To Wander Between Worlds
by Trick N. Zwei
Summary: The modern age has no need of the skills of a swordsman. One man couldn't agree more with that. A soul from a different time, a different world, lives his new life with ease. To the world he currently resides, there is no need for such skills. But another world within that world is a different matter altogether. ALfheim Online is a world where sword skills thrive and PVP is normal.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **It's been a while since last time I've watched Samurai X so please take note if I seem to have gotten something wrong. I really didn't read the LN version of SAO too seriously, either. The setting of this story is having Kenshin reincarnated into the universe of SAO. He is basically reborn into a future Japan with a different history than the one he is familiar with. So he won't be seeing descendants and such from his own universe.**

* * *

Kirigaya Suguha covered her mouth with her hands to try and stifle a growing yawn. Currently, she was only barely able to pay attention to what her teacher was explaining to their class.

She had stayed up late last night trying to finish her homework that she had almost forgotten about. The VMMORPG Alfheim Online has been taking much of her attention lately. And not just because she was enjoying hanging out with her cousin and his friends. Recent events within the game has caused a major change with every single player in the game.

She sighed just thinking about it.

"-like you all to remember to be friendly."

Excited murmurs filled the class, causing her to wake from her daydreams.

"Eh?"

Suguha was briefly confused about what was happening right now due to her inattention. She hadn't realized what on earth her teacher had been talking about at all.

"Hey," she whispered quietly to her female classmate. "What's everyone so excited about?"

"It's a transfer student, Suguha-san! A transfer student!"

A transfer this late in the school year, she thought. That is certainly a rare occurrence. No wonder all of her classmates had started saying, "Please let it be a cute girl!" and "Please let it be a handsome guy!"

"Come and introduce yourself," said the teacher towards the class entrance.

A slender young man, with brown-orange hair that was barely in line with school hair length regulations for male students, walked towards the front of the class, girls shrieking in delight while the boys groaning in disappointment. In front of everyone's eyes, the young man gave a warm-hearted smile.

"My name is Genbei Kouda. It's a pleasure to meet you all, and I hope to get along with everyone. Please treat me well."

* * *

"So how was your first day in class, Kouda?"

Mrs. Genbei was prepping dinner with her son, chopping onions and vegetables for their meal later. Her son had just arrived back from school in time to help her with the preparations. His skill with the knife would make professional chefs weep at their own inadequacy.

The mother and housewife had always considered herself to be a good home keeper, but her son just seems to have a natural talent for household chores. If he wasn't a man, she has always kept the thought that he would make a perfect wife someday.

"The teachers and the students were all very nice to me," answered Kouda, the onion in his hands already diced to perfect sized little pieces and already reaching for another. "I'm sure that I'm going to enjoy my time here."

"That's nice…"

Mrs. Genbei furrowed her brow as she appeared to ponder something. Her son had always been a kind and gentle soul, so she had no doubts about him getting along fine with his new classmates. The problem lied in him being unable to keep long lasting friendships.

"Kouda," she said seriously, getting her son's attention. "I know moving around a lot due to your father's job has been hard on you, not being to stay in one place for too long to make friends. It's something that your father and I have always felt guilty about."

In response to his mother's guilt, Kouda simply gave her an understanding smile whilst continuing on chopping vegetables.

"Mother and Father are always so worried about me. I feel blessed just having such parents like yourselves."

Mrs. Genbei sighed.

Her son was so mature. He was always so polite, humble, and kind. Those are normally traits any parent would wish for in their offspring. However, Mr. and Mrs. Genbei could only wish that their child would act just a little bit more selfish from time to time. It was very hard for them to know what to give him when he only asks for simple things.

"You know, Mother and Father thought really hard," said Mrs. Genbei. "We got you a really good present. Your father already set it up while you were in school."

Kouda tilted his head in confusion.

He didn't know that his parents had been having deep discussions on what to give for his present since his birthday had passed not long ago. They weren't exactly satisfied when they were told that he had only wanted some fresh tea leaves since they had just run out. So both of them had decided to think up of another present, one that would also act as a commemoration of sorts to finally stop their family's wanderings and his first day in a new city.

"You can go ahead and try it as soon as we finish eating dinner," smiled Mrs. Genbei proudly. "We even got you the most popular thing people have been using on it so that you could start making friends even if their anywhere here in Japan. Oh, but you should start making friends at school so you can play with them too."

"Oro?" Kouda was only more confused.

Later after dinner with his parents, Kouda went to his room to see exactly what it was his parents had talked about to him.

Next to his bed was a visor. It wasn't just a regular visor, it was a 2nd generation FullDive machine called Amusphere.

Kouda smiled as he examined the device. Even he who has almost zero interest in technology, has heard of it. The death game incident itself was something that just increased his anxiety towards using such gadgets. His mother and father had both assured him that the new generation machines are completely safer and would never be able to harm him at all. He had told them he wasn't really at all interested in it and that it might be better to just sell it and get something else they would all be able to enjoy.

He remembered his mother had started to tear up and said, "Kouda doesn't like the present we got him, Husband! Mother is so sad that all that time we spent so long on deciding his gift…"

He was quick to assure his mother that he hadn't meant it like that and that he would be sure to use their gift fully. What he didn't see though was the triumphant smirk of his mother's as she pretended to wipe away her tears and his father's thumbs up towards his sly woman.

"Really… isn't the child supposed to be the one convincing them and not the other way around," he sighed.

He noticed something else that had been beside the device and picked it up.

"ALfheim… online, huh?" he read on the case. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it."

It took Kouda a little while to figure out how to work the device. He had to reread the information booklet and the device manual over and over.

"ROM? FullDive? Ororo!" His eyes were spinning in circles as he tried to make sense of how to get it to work.

Finally, after he was relatively sure that everything was ready, he placed the Amusphere over his eyes. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, ready to see a whole new world once more.

"Uhm… link… start?"

It took him by surprise when he felt a sudden disconnection of his eyes, darkness came as if he had gone blind, but it was quickly replaced by the appearance of bright lights and images. The only thing that stood out to him was the words at the end that said visual connection was OK.

Vision was soon followed by sound, thoroughly confusing him as he thought he was bombarded by different sound tests for testing his auditory nerve connection. It was similarly given the OK.

Soon after, the next tests had driven his senses from the outside world completely gone. He could no longer feel his bed underneath him. He felt his senses were in a jumble as more OK were given through various other tests and procedures.

He was so confused and overwhelmed that he hadn't even noticed the final OK that had appeared. His consciousness had drifted off through the darkness into rainbow lights of rings.

When he had finally come to his senses, he was greeted by the appearance of the ALfheim Online LOGO and a soft female voice. He was now at the account registration interface.

Kouda realized that this is probably where he would need to start creating his character, just like the instruction booklet had detailed.

He went through the basic information requested such as his username ID and password, along with payment requirements and such.

"I really hope this game isn't too expensive," chuckled Kouda.

He paused when he had gotten to the option to choose his nickname for his character. His hand was steady over the keyboard, still thinking of what to put in. He had heard that it wasn't wise for people to use their IRL names inside games. Although… there is certainly a name no one else here would know of him.

Kenshin

The female voice then advised him to create his character. He wasn't too hung up with appearances so he opted for just defaulting to close to his current look. Since the system decides on the parameters surrounding his appearance to be random, there may be more than a few things that would probably be outside his expectations.

Well, he thought that as long as he didn't look too weird, then it should be fine. He didn't really want to pay more to change his appearance, since that would be just a poor excuse to spend money on vanity.

He was now faced with the option to select one of the nine fairy races of Alfheim. There were a lot of things to consider when choosing one's race. Strengths and weaknesses are always given serious thought in the process. After all, everyone wanted to go with what best suited them.

Kenshin, however, was not really thinking the same way.

"Oro? A Neko-chan race! How cute! I want to see what they look like!"

Without a second thought, he had selected Cait Siths and pressed OK.

In his defense, he really just intended to see what they looked like and didn't mean he wanted to play as one. He was, after all, a total noob when it came to video games.

With the initial setup finished, the female voice said, "Good luck." A vortex of light enveloped his consciousness and the sensation of the ground beneath him had also disappeared.

"Oro?"

Kenshin was suddenly panicking at sudden floating feeling of losing his center of gravity. He flailed his arms and legs wildly, like a bird trying to fly underwater. In his panic stricken and confused state, he once again failed to see the transition of his consciousness into a whole new world.

He was falling towards a village from high above in the darkness. It was the starter area for the Cait Sith zone. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that this was exactly how the game starts.

"Mother, Father! It was short, but I was truly happy with this new life of mine!"

Kenshin was already saying his prayers…

With his eyes closed shut, he braced himself for the inevitable. There was no doubt in his mind what would happen to him for falling from such a height.

"Hey, what's with that guy?"

"Must be a noob."

"Pfft! He seriously thought he was going to die!"

The murmurs and giggling around him caused Kouda to open his eyes. What greeted him was the sight of the city of Freelia and people of the Cait Sith race watching him with amusement.

"Oro…?"

His jaw dropped and eyes popped at the unexpected sight of the place and the ground on his feet. He had thought for sure he was going to the next life.

He was completely overwhelmed by his near death experience and the appearance of his surroundings that he was now in a complete daze. The only thing he could do was walk.

So he started walking in one direction while his mind was in a mess. He kept muttering things such as cat people, I'm alive, the sky is so nice today, and I wonder if I should start hanging the laundry…

It was mostly ramblings of a man whose mind has been thoroughly battered.

"Oi, oi! Where's that noob going to in such a state? He doesn't even know any of the basics yet from the tutorial!"

"Someone catch him before he leaves the safety zone!"

Some of the nicer players went and tried to stop him, but a pack of transport beasts had suddenly cut him off from the rest. As soon as the train of beasts were gone then so was he.

The players were all silent as the wind breezed through the empty spot where the noob had been in.

"Isn't this seriously bad?" one of the players said.

Some others sighed.

"He'll be back here once he dies to the monsters outside anyway. It won't be a very good first experience but at least he'll get the basics down once he finished the tutorial here."

"Let's just offer our prayers that he receives a quick and easy death then."

The collection of players clapped their hands together in prayer towards Kenshin shadow.

"May your death be an easy one," they all said together.

* * *

As she walked home from school, Suguha received a call from Klein. From what he told her, it would seem that the Salamanders are once again up to no good with their usual antics. He had said that a group of them had been spotted heading towards the direction of the Ancient Forest.

"Really, those guys don't know when to quit," she sighed. "Lady Sakuya's been on edge lately as well."

Tensions between Slyphs and Salamanders have been pretty high lately. Of course, both lords of each race has been adamant that they weren't advocating any fights, but the truth was easily seen between the constant skirmishes that have been happening lately.

"Alright!" She slapped her cheeks with the palms of her hands. "If they want a fight, then I say bring it!"

It's time for her to let a little stress out on these ruffians. She would make sure that they felt her anger with point of her sword.

It's nice and all to be fired up, but she should really have been paying more attention in front of her. If she had, she probably wouldn't have missed out on the young man kneeling down on her path.

"Geh!"

"Oro?!"

She tripped over the young man's back and fell, effectively pinning the man underneath her.

"Ouch…" she said. "I'm so sorry…!"

The boy that was crushed by her ample bosoms was out of it, but she could see his hands were holding away a small little kitten, saving it from meeting his same fate.

"A-Are you alright?!" She quickly picked herself off of him and made sure the cat was fine.

The little kitten in her hand mewled in a concerned way at the boy.

"I-I'm fine, yes." The boy seemed okay and was already picking himself up on his feet.

"I am truly sorry!" said Suguha. "I wasn't watching where I was going!"

"No, it was partially my fault for blocking the road, Kirigaya-san."

"Eh?" Suguha looked carefully at the boy who was just as tall as her and noticed that he was wearing the same uniform as her school. "Uhm… I'm sorry but I don't recall meeting you."

"Is that so?" The boy looked slightly depressed. "It seems I didn't leave much of an impression, even though we're in the same class. I suppose that's a given since It has only been my second day here."

Suguha then finally remembered who the young man in front of her was.

"Ah! You're that transfer student who came yesterday!" She was slightly red from her embarrassment of having not remembered. "Uh… your name was…"

"Genbei," answered her classmate. "Genbei Kouda."

"Right," nodded Suguha. "Genbei-san, I'm really sorry for tripping over you just now. I know I was the one who was completely at fault, so you don't have to deny it. Please feel free to scold me for it!"

"Ahahaha," The boy simply just laughed and gave her a warm smile. "Please, it would trouble me more to do such a thing to a sincere girl like yourself."

Suguha blushed a little at his praise.

"B-But you could have been seriously hurt!" she argued. "And I'd hate what to think what I would have happened to this little cat if you hadn't protected it!"

The little kitten mewled cutely in her hands, apparently confused of what was happening.

Kouda looked troubled by her insistence. "Even if you say so…"

"Please, allow me to make it up to you somehow!" she bowed. "If there is anything at all that you can think of that I can help with, don't hesitate to ask!"

For short time, her classmate seemed to think quietly of what to say to her.

"Okay, I understand," nodded Kouda. "If that is so, could I trouble to look after the kitten-san for a while?"

"Eh?"

Suguha looked from her classmate's smiling face back to the kitten that she was still holding. While she did say anything, she was really confused as to why he would ask her to take care of the kitten all of a sudden.

"You see, I found him abandoned on the side of the road just now, and was wondering what to do with him." Kouda scratched his head, looking a little aloof. "I'm not so sure I'm fit to take care of him." Suguha noticed the tiny scratch marks on his nose. "And it seems like he's taken quite a liking to you."

The kitten that she had wrapped in her arms was now snoozing soundly, perfectly content. It was such an adorable little ball of white fur. She had always wanted to take care of one.

"Of course, if it's too much trouble then-"

"I would gladly do it!" came Suguha's immediate reply.

Her classmate laughed goodheartedly at her enthusiasm.

"Well, since that is decided, then I should really be heading home now. It's my turn to cook dinner, after all. See you in class, Suguha-san."

Suguha was left all alone, watching her classmate walk into a house not far from them.

Wait…

Isn't that the vacant house next to theirs?!

That would mean that her new classmate was also their new next door neighbor that had just moved in several days ago. She hadn't really noticed them before since she had been busy with school and playing ALfheim Online.

"So that's the new transfer student, huh?" she wondered. "Seems like a really nice guy. Oh?! But this isn't the time to stand around like this! I still have to meet up with Klein-san and the rest!"

Suguha didn't forget to introduce the kitten in her hands to her family and take care of it before logging on to play. Her family seemed quite welcoming of their new family pet.

* * *

Kenshin took a drink from the lake he had discovered. He was mentally exhausted after running away from various monsters that were all quite intent on eating him. Nighttime has already descended in the game, moon and starts high up in the sky.

There were currently no monsters here, so it was a nice break for him. So far the only memories he's had of this game had been utter confusion and running. He really couldn't figure out why people play games like these. He hadn't even run into any other players to ask for help.

When his parents had asked him if he was enjoying it, he just answered that he was having a really good time. Those expectant eyes of his mother was enough to silence any complaints he had. It looked like he would have to bear with playing this game for a while.

"Oro?"

After taking a drink from the lake, with the light of the moon on the water surface, he had just now finally noticed his reflection. In his eyes, he saw the figure of someone he had thought long gone.

In the reflection, what stared back at him was the perfect image of himself from his past life, back when he was in still his prime and years before he had ever met his wife. Long ponytailed orange-reddish hair, slender build, and small stature… even the scar on his cheek.

He traced the familiar X scar on his face that he was sure had already gone from this new life of his.

"This…?! How is this possible?!" He was stunned at his own reflection that was identical to his past self. Everything besides his clothing was much the same. "Wait… something is… different…?"

There were somethings not quite the same, now that he finally took a good look closer at himself. Those somethings twitched uneasily at the top of his head.

He watched his reflection carefully as he slowly reached up at the top of his head, finally grabbing the two out of place parts of his old image.

"Oro?"

Kenshin couldn't believe it. What he was holding in his head were cat ears, just like the ones those cosplayers wear all the time. They were so soft and felt great in his hands. The only problem is that he could also feel them as if they were his actual ears!

"Haha…" he laughed weakly, unable to believe his eyes. "This is some sort of joke, I suppose?"

When he turned back a little bit from the lake, he noticed another thing that was out of place. Something that came from behind him. He also grabbed on to it to make sure it was there.

He started to laugh out loud to himself. "A tail! Hahaha! I have a tail! What a lovely tail!"

For a while, it looked like he was enjoying himself, but it was most likely his attempts of denying his own image. The one reflected back to him was Himura Kenshin, his old self. Yet, it wasn't exactly quite his old self at all.

"Please don't joke around with me!" He suddenly grabbed a rock and threw it really hard into the air, as if to get back at the god who was responsible for his appearance.

The rock flew in a perfect arc, just rising above the tree line and landed with a ponk sound somewhere behind it. In a few seconds, out came an Angry Ape carrying a large wooden club in its hands. It glared angrily at its surroundings, trying to find who had hit him.

His eyes landed dead on Kenshin's figure.

"Uhm… I'm sorry?" offered Kenshin meekly.

The monster roared out wildly. A few more of its comrades had joined it, and all of them began to run over to where their target was. Their large bodies plowed through obstacles at great speed.

"I'm really, really sorry! Please forgive meee!"

Kenshin had started running with all his might away from the monsters, their panting and growling he could feel way too close for his comfort. His apology had only seemed to increase the aggro against him.

"I really don't like this game!" he shouted out.

* * *

"Klein-san, are you sure that they were planning on entering here?"

Lyfa was hidden behind a rough looking tree alongside an equally rough looking samurai. She had been waiting here with the rest of her party for almost half an hour already, and she was beginning to think that Klein may have been mistaken in his information.

He had told them that a heavy Salamander unit was intent on sneaking through the Ancient Forest on foot, trying to avoid being seen flying through the air, to make a foothold close to the Slyph zone, and increasing the likelihood for future attacks on Slyph controlled neutral areas.

"D-Don't look so doubtfully at me like that," complained Klein. "I got the info directly from Argo and confirmed it myself when they left the Salamander Desert Area."

If he hadn't mentioned it being information directly from Argo, Lyfa would probably be still doubting him right now. An information broker like Argo wouldn't give out false leads to them, especially since the mousy Cait Sith was considered a friend of her Oniichan's and fellow SAO survivor.

"Lyfa-chan! Klein-san! There is something approaching us from behind!"

Recon, Lyfa's classmate and friend, had come out of hiding from the rear looking a little anxious. From the direction he came from, they could hear quite a bit of noise heading towards them.

"Oi, it can't be they discovered us instead?!" said Klein.

"That can't be! There's no way they could've gone past us without us knowing!" denied Lyfa. "Yui-chan, can you sense any players coming from behind us?"

The little navigation pixie had appeared from her pocket and landed on her shoulder. Yui then started to close her eyes as she began a complete scan of the area.

Lyfa was Yui's caretaker for the day since her Oniichan and Asuna were both out on a date right now. Or as Yui told her, "They're being all lovey-dovey without me!"

"Uhm… how do I say this?" said Yui unsurely. "There appears to be a single player running towards us."

That didn't seem to make sense for a single Salamander to come attack them all by himself. It also didn't explain why there was a large amount of bustle and noise that came with him.

"He also seems to have brought a large amount of monsters following him," finished Yui.

"A monster train?!" said Klein. "Ah! Those sneaky bastards!"

"This is no time to panic," answered Lyfa. "Everyone, switch positions and prepare to confront the monsters!" She quickly ordered the rest of her party that Lady Sakuya had given her to command. "Have your magic out to blast them first before we engage them in melee!"

In short order, a dozen of her group had formed up to meet the monster charge. Their group was an experienced one against PVP and dungeon raids. While they would not fall easily to such an underhanded tactic, Lyfa still worried about where the rest of the Salamanders were.

Everyone was waiting anxiously as the sounds of the monsters got louder and closer to them. Their grips on their weapons were tight, the beginnings of their spells already on their lips, and the bows were already drawn and aimed.

Out of the trees came the unexpected appearance of the player responsible for the monster train.

"Oro?"

The relatively small statured Cait Sith seemed completely surprised by the appearance of Lyfa's group pointing their hostilities towards his direction. He seemed completely dumbstruck at seeing them.

Even being the wrong race, Lyfa realized then that he wasn't at all part of the group that they had been planning to ambush. Based on his current equipment, plain purple tunic and trousers with no armor whatsoever, she could immediately tell that this person was a complete beginner to the game.

"Quickly! Step aside!" she shouted at him.

As soon as he moved out of the way, the monster train behind him had all rushed out in droves, sprawling into their line of attacks. The moment the monsters had done so, a variety of wind magics bombarded the area, with a little bit of fire magic from Klein.

A good portion of the monsters had died instantly, but there were still a few that had only be injured.

"Engage and put them down!" commanded Lyfa as she herself charged headfirst into the battered monsters.

It didn't take long before the monsters were killed and the area cleared for any other dangers. There hadn't been any casualty to their side but they've exhausted most their MP and also need to replenish some HP.

With loud stomps, Lyfa approached the player responsible for the damage to her group.

"Care to explain what exactly you're doing bringing a monster train towards us?!" she demanded angrily.

"Uhm… you see…" The player started to shrink back from her and seemed really unsure of what to say. "I'm not really sure what happened. This is the first time I've ever used a VRMMORPG. Ever since I've played this game last night, I've only ever encountered monsters. I really had no choice but to run away."

Lyfa stared intently at the beginner, watching him for any signs of deceit. This guy was just about as tall as Recon was, maybe even a little bit shorter. His face was… actually he looked pretty good, aside from that X scar on his left cheek. It's not uncommon for people to add scars to their avatars, but it kind of felt out of place on a kind face like his.

Lyfa shook away her thoughts. She needed to make sure that this was all an accident and that the player in front of her wasn't actually hired by those Salamanders they were waiting for.

"He isn't lying, Lyfa." Yui was floating on her shoulder. "It looks like he really is just a beginner that probably just got lost."

Gotten lost all the way from the Cait Sith starter zone? That was pretty far off from here. It was strange how a beginner had managed to survive all the way here. That would mean that he hasn't died once. His respawn would be set by default back to the starter zone of his race.

"Oh my!" The beginner seemed surprised at Yui's sudden appearance. "Is that a little fairy? How adorable she is!"

"Ehehe," Yui puffed up her chest. "Thank you."

"I wasn't aware that people could even play as someone as cute as yourself."

"Oh, uhm… I'm not really a player," answered Yui. "I'm just an AI that acts as a navigation pixie."

"Oh?" The beginner was wide eyed at this. "Technology sure is amazing."

Lyfa sighed.

There was no mistaking it now that this player in front of her was just some random beginner that had somehow managed to start a monster train. Her luck must truly be bad right now. It would certainly explain why everything hasn't been going to plan lately.

"Why didn't you just fight instead of running?" Lyfa questioned, a little more relaxed.

"Hey, Lyfa-chan," said Klein, already joining in checking out the new guy along with Recon. "This guy doesn't even have any kind of weapon on him right now. He can't really fight even if he wanted to."

"Even if you're a beginner, didn't you start with a sword at the very least?" said Lyfa suspiciously.

The newbie just smiled painfully. "Well… I must have lost it when I wasn't paying attention earlier."

Yui suddenly flew in front of his face. She pouted as she watched him.

"You… you don't intend to harm any of my friends here, do you?" she asked seriously.

While his ears folded down a little bit at having such a cute girl doubt him, the Cait Sith answered, "I promise you that I have no intention of harming anyone here nor seek harm upon others, little one."

After piercing him with her eyes, Yui declared, "Good! Papa and Mama told me that lying is no good!"

Everyone was just as surprised as the newbie at Yui's sudden question and declaration. The little navigation pixie had taken a seat once more on Lyfa's shoulder.

"So you're a newbie, huh?" asked Klein. "What's your name, shorty? I hope you didn't do a stupid thing like using your IRL name."

"My name is Kenshin."

Lyfa felt more relieved now at having made sure of him. The surrounding tension had also dispersed when everyone had started to introduce themselves to one another.

"My name is Klein, and since you're a total beginner, let me be the first one to welcome to you this world!" He held out his arms in a way that would seem like he was introducing something so grand. "A world of swords, magic, and fairies! Rejoice! For you are now part of something bigger than the real world!"

"I'm Yui."

"My name's Recon."

"I'm called Lyfa."

Everyone else just ignored Klein's overtly exaggerated welcome, causing him to drop down in depression.

"Everyone… why is everyone so mean to me?" he cried with tears in his eyes. "I'm such a nice guy and yet…"

Quickly rubbing his tears out of the way, Klein started to fiddle with his inventory. He selected something and opened up the palm of his hand. Appearing with a shine of light was a sword… a sheathed katana.

"Here!" he held out the katana towards Kenshin. "As proof how such a nice guy I am, I'm going to give you this mid-level katana. Take it and be glad!"

Kenshin looked a little apprehensive. "I'm perfectly fine. Please don't trouble yourself over me."

"No, you have to take this," insisted Klein. "You don't have to worry about troubling me, since this I've got more than a few better ones in my inventory." He grabbed Kenshin's hand and directly handed over the blade to him. "See how nice I am? With this you can become a samurai just like me!"

"Ahaha…" weakly laughed Kenshin, a somewhat troubled look on his face.

Lyfa could see that their new acquaintance wasn't too excited with holding a sword.

"You know you need a weapon to be able to fully enjoy this game, right?" she asked. "Even crafters don't go around without one. Is a katana not really your style? I could get you something else, if you like?"

"No, it's not that," Kenshin said with a shake of his head, then carefully holding out the katana given to him to examine it. "It's just a little too… comfortable." His answer perplexed those around him. "It's light… far too light for something made to kill."

"Oi, oi, oi!" Klein put his arms over Kenshin's shoulder. "Aren't you taking this a little too seriously, newbie? This isn't a death game, you know? Things like that can't happen anymore."

"Is that so?" chuckled Kenshin. "Still, maybe I should just become a crafter or some other type that won't see any violence."

"That's kind of a waste," said Lyfa. She didn't really see why someone like him would think of playing this game at all with that kind of attitude.

After all, ALfheim Online was a game made to encourage killing other players. While there are a few odd people here and there that only focus on smaller aspects of the game like fishing and stuff, most of the players enjoy doing battles against monsters and even other players.

"Kenshin-san is very kind, aren't you?" smiled Yui from Lyfa's shoulder.

"I wonder about that?" chuckled the Cait Sith samurai.

"Whether it's you or anyone else, no one is going to die here." Klein gave Kenshin an enthusiastic pat on the back. "That thing you're holding isn't really a sword. It's just data, you know? D-A-T-A! No one is really going to die here if you hit them with that, so just fight to your hearts content. After all, it's a man's romance to fight!"

Kenshin still seemed unconvinced of the matter, but made no mention of it.

Lyfa wondered just why such an odd young man was here. There was about a few dozen other VRMMORPGs now that are more laid back. If he didn't like violence, then he could've just chosen from any number of those.

"Players!" Yui suddenly shouted from her shoulder. "There are at least two dozen players approaching us from the west!"

Running towards Lyfa, one of the female Slyphs under her command shouted, "It's the enemy! The Salamanders are about to engage us!"

Lyfa cursed inwardly. They've lost their chance for an ambush and the damage from the monster train hasn't been recouped yet. What's more, there were a lot more of the enemy than they had anticipated. They may have joined up with a separate force on the way here, which explains why they had taken so long.

"Vanguards, go up and meet the enemy!" she commanded to those around her. "Magicians and healers, stay behind us and give support!" She grabbed Yui gently on her shoulder and handed her to Kenshin. "Take her and run away from here," she told him. "I'm not so confident that we can win this, so I'll feel a lot better knowing Yui's fine."

Kenshin held out his palm to receive the pixie. "Uhm… I thought you said that no one can actually die in this game?" he said uneasily.

It was true that no players could die in this game. However, Yui is an AI from the old SAO system. It's possible that she wouldn't die even if she was killed, but there Kirito had told them that since Yui was not really part of ALfheim Online, it would be better to be safe and not tempt fate.

"Yui is very special," simply answered Lyfa. "I wouldn't be able to face her papa and mama anymore if I allowed her to die here."

"Oro?" Kenshin simply tilted his head and cat ears, not really understanding.

"Anyway, just take her and go!" she turned the Cait Sith around and kicked him away from them, before running in the opposite direction to join the others who had already left. "Remember to keep her safe!"

With that final goodbye, Lyfa left the beginner and reached the frontlines of her party. Salamander warriors clashed with them, swords and spears meeting with sparks. The arrows of her Slyph comrades whisked by, hitting enemies here and there.

It was unfortunate though that most of the Salamanders were tank types with heavy armor, so the arrows were not that effective. If they had only been able to ready their spells before, then her group would have been fine.

"Lyfa-san!" cried out Recon who was busy with a single Salamander. "There's too many of them! We won't be able to win if this keeps up!"

"Take this!" Klein slashed an opponent out of his way and came up beside Lyfa. Together, they kept their enemies at bay. "He's right. We have to think of something or else we'll get slaughtered. Do you think we can escape?"

Lyfa looked around them to check if it was possible. The rest of her vanguard were doing as best they can to defend the rear. They were in a deep thick part of the Ancient Forest where the large trees made it difficult to fly more than a few meters above the ground. Even if they were able to break away into the sky, the numerical advantage of the Salamanders would surely knock them down with their magic.

"I don't think we can," she said in frustration. "I hate to say it, but it looks like we're going to get wiped here."

"Seriously?"

"Sorry, Klein…"

"No worries, no worries." Her friend simply sighed and waived it off. "I guess this was a lot more than we bargained for, isn' it? Well, at the very least, we should take down as many as we can!"

Klein gave a shout and charged at the two opponents running towards them. He deflected the downward slice from the first and countered with a vertical slash, ending the Salamander. The next one was able to slice nick him on his arm, but he had pushed his weight forward and thrusted his blade into the enemy.

"Ha…ha…" Klein posed with a V sign on his hand at Lyfa. "Did you see that? I'm no slouch either when it comes to-"

"Klein!"

A big axe had buried itself on the rough bandana man's back. His body was wrapped around in a red whirlwind, the End Flame effect that signaled death. His body dissolved, leaving only a Remain Light like the rest of the defeated around them.

"A fellow Salamander shouldn't be hanging around the enemy," spat the rather large man who held the handle of the axe that killed him. "Only death awaits those that oppose the will of our lord!"

This man was most likely the leader of this group, based on how the others gathered around him.

Lyfa prepared herself. She was the last of the vanguard. Recon had perished shortly after Klein, and now the Salamander forces still numbered at least a dozen. It wasn't such a bad outcome, given that they were outnumbered almost 2:1 at the start. Her HP was half gone. As soon as she died, the rest of the rearguard would fall quickly without anyone to defend them.

"Just get this over with and kill her so we can get their items already!" the Salamander commanded his men.

Four men had rushed at her with their swords. She fought with all her might and managed to take down two of them, but the rest slashed her down soon after. She watched as her vision was consumed by End Flame and replaced with the green tinted color, still able to see and hear from her Remain Light.

She sighed.

 _"_ _If Oniichan was here, we wouldn't have lost"_ , she thought. " _That guy taking it so easy with Asuna-san!"_ She was a little bit angry but also a little bit jealous at the same time.

"Lyfa-chan!"

She heard a small cute voice coming from somewhere.

"Lyfa-chan!"

With her grin tinted vision, she saw Yui approaching her Remain Light. She panicked at seeing Yui here right now. It was too dangerous for her to be here. She could see that the Salamanders had noticed the tiny little pixie floating around her.

"A navigation pixie?" said one of the Salamanders curiously. "What the heck is it doing here?"

"Isn't it probably that girl's?" said another.

"That's not right. A player's navigation pixie wouldn't show up once its owner died."

"Whatever, let's just kill it."

 _"_ _NO! Yui, run!"_ Lyfa screamed out. " _Get out of here, Yui!"_

The AI couldn't hear her since she was a Remain Light. She only continued to cry out beside her, not wanting to leave. The little girl didn't notice that the men behind her were about to cut her down.

 _"_ _Please! Somebody save her!_ " Lyfa begged.

"STOP!"

A voice came and halted the Salamander from killing the young AI.

In the shadows to their sides, yellow eyes like that of a cat, watched them intently. Slowly, the owner of those eyes came out into the light of the moon that trickled down the leaves of the trees above them, like a tiger revealing itself.

"A Cait Sith?" said the Salamander that had been about to cut Yui. "And a beginner by the looks of him."

Lyfa could see Kenshin's eyes watching her and the other Remain Lights on the ground. His eyes stopped at Yui's crying little form beside her. Those eyes were saddened. She couldn't understand how his eyes had so much sorrow in them from just this. They weren't truly dead, after all.

"A game… just a game, right?" she heard him mumble to himself as he tightened his grip on the sheathe of his katana at his waist. "Then why do I feel so angry?"

"A comrade of these guys, huh?" said the axe-wielding leader. "Hurry up and kill him too. Although we probably won't get that much good loot from him."

"You told me that no one is able to truly die here, Klein-san," said Kenshin as two Salamanders started to approach him. "Very well. I shall put that to the test."

The Salamanders that had been approaching him froze in their tracks. Lyfa couldn't understand why they did. She was only watching Kenshin's back so she didn't see the cold-blooded eyes that stared down at his enemies. He still stood where he was, but the atmosphere around him had completely changed. Those yellow eyes of his had gleamed sharply from the moon's light.

"Hey…" said one a Salamander beside the leader. "Is that guy really a beginner? Somehow, he looks pretty dangerous."

"Kuh!" The Salamander leader could understand well what his subordinate well. "It doesn't matter! What the hell are you two doing?! Kill him already!"

The two Salamanders that were facing the Cait Sith samurai were both frozen in fear. Their swords were still up, but they somehow couldn't make a move to get any closer.

"Not coming?"

Kenshin's voice was cold. It was colder than what Lyfa had thought possible from the person they had only briefly met before. She couldn't believe it was the same person. It sent a chill down her spine just hearing it.

"I wasn't expecting to wait for you anyway." Kenshin started to walk towards them. The two Salamanders suddenly were able to move, except they stepped back away from him.

"What are you two idiots doing?!" angrily yelled their leader. "Kill him!"

The two seemed to finally get over their fear and began to run towards the Cait Sith with their swords held high above their heads. Kenshin still only casually walked towards the two. As soon as he was in range of their sword, in the blink of an eye he had vanished and appeared a few feet behind them, still walking at the same pace with his left hand on his sheathe and his katana out on his right…

Wait. Lyfa wasn't sure what just happened. Forget how fast he got past the two, when did he draw his sword she wondered.

"Fast…" she heard Yui whisper from close to her. "Even faster than papa…"

Lyfa could see that Yui had already stopped crying and was watching Kenshin like the rest of the Salamanders and the survivors of her party. No way could she believe that a beginner like him could be faster than her Oniichan!

The two salamanders behind Kenshin collapsed, a large, orange virtual gash suddenly appeared on their bodies. They were quickly engulfed in flames and turned into red Remain Lights.

Lyfa was one of the top Kendo experts of her age in Japan, so she knew that just by looking at him, that he was no amateur. The way he held the blade was too familiar. It was too natural for him.

Kenshin did not stop walking. He was headed towards the large, axe-wielding leader of the Salamanders. The leader and his underlings could see those catlike eyes of his that held no mercy.

"Just… just who the hell are you?!" yelled out the leader in anger and fear. "A beginner can't be as strong as you! Don't tell me you're really a smurf?"

Smurf, a game term for veteran players of a game who make alt characters so that they can play as beginners. Lyfa thought that it might be possible. There aren't really any restrictions against experienced players making new characters. But such people don't also go around picking fights without at least a weapon in their hand.

Kenshin paused in his steps. "I am Kenshin – No, It would probably be more accurate to call the me right now as… Battōsai the Manslayer."

Axe-wielding leader laughed. "Watched too many shows about samurai, have we? I can see that you're really just one of those chuunibyou going around here all the time." He pounded his axe down on the ground. "He's nothing but a fool with a little bit of skill! Everyone just charge in and beat him down!"

The rest of the Salamanders around him raised their weapons and cheered. In unison they all ran towards Kenshin, ready to deliver judgment for displaying such arrogance against them.

While the Salamanders were too focused with Kenshin, Lyfa's support team were hastily trying to cast their revival magic. They only needed him to keep the Salamanders occupied for a minute, even just less than that. She planned on helping out as soon as she was back in action.

However, Kenshin went beyond her expectations when he started cutting down Salamanders left and right. He was like a breeze that simply passed them by, leaving only Remain Lights in his wake. The few who didn't die instantly, were only able to block or attack once before they too received a single virtual orange gash of where he had cut them.

"Amazing," said Yui. "He's taking them all down with a single hit…"

Lyfa was similarly amazed by the scene. The way he moved past his opponents, it was somehow similar to her Oniichan. It's like he can see where the attacks are coming from before they even start. And there was no single movement wasted, same with each of his strikes. As a kendo user, she couldn't help but admire his swordsmanship.

Kenshin didn't stop until he stood directly in front of the large build of the Salamander leader and all of the others were dead. His eyes glared imposingly at the larger man before him, daring him to make a move.

"Don't act so conceited!" growled the larger man, while bashing his big steel axe down on Kenshin's head.

Again, Kenshin simply vanished and reappeared behind the man. Except this time the Salamander leader did not die like the rest of his underlings. There was a single orange line that traced from his right shoulder down to his abdomen, but he still didn't go down.

"Don't think a single hit is enough to take me down!" he said as he swung his axe horizontally behind him. "I've got high-class armor that reduces the damage from critical hits! Even if you are a smurf, you're items aren't good enough to beat me!"

Kenshin simply ducked underneath the wide swing. The leader then raised his weapon over his head to follow up another attack at the Cait Sith crouched in front of him.

 ** _Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Ryūsōsen_**

Before the Salamander leader could follow through on his attack, Kenshin had performed a massive flurry of high-speed strikes that was almost hard to see with the naked eye. In a second, his attack was over, leaving numerous orange damage visuals all over the Salamander leader's body.

"An Origi…nal… Sword… Skill…!"

The Salamander leader turned into a Remain Light just like the rest of his allies. There was only stunned silence as the wind blew past the finished battle. Lyfa was wide eyed and open mouthed with surprise at seeing Kenshin, not only single-handedly defeat a dozen high level players, but also use an almost impossible Original Sword Skill.

 _"_ _Ten… fifteen… no, was there more than twenty hits from that just now?!"_ she thought to herself. _"There is no way it should be possible for a skill to have that many combos in such a short time!"_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly felt the effects of revival magic surround her. It looked like her teammates had just finished reviving her at the very last second. Everyone else, including Klein and Recon, were standing again on solid ground.

"Although lighter than it has ever been," said Kenshin as he sheathed his katana. "The blade in my hand is heavy with a weight your armor could never hold up to."

With the click coming from the sound of his sword being sheathed, the silence all around him had been broken. Cheers erupted from Lyfa and her party. Everyone applauded and came rushing towards him.

"So cool!" Klein was the first one to grab him into a hug. "You were so cool there, dude! You really looked like a true samurai right there!" He started to rub Kenshin's head roughly. "That line at the end really nailed it!"

"Oro?"

Kenshin looked up at Klein. He started to tear up suddenly, much to Klein's surprise.

"It's really you, Klein-san…" Kenshin started to cry as he glued himself onto the man's chest. "You're really still alive."

"O-Oi, don't go start hugging me like this!" Klein tried to forcefully pry the crying red kitty off of him. "Only girls are allowed to do that! Knock it off already!"

"And he acted so cool just a few moments ago too," laughed Recon.

There was laughter all around them as everyone basked in their victory. Lyfa watched the scene with warm feelings of surviving a battle with her comrades. It was all thanks to this lost little cat samurai that they had managed to pull through.

She noticed that someone wasn't showing the same happy mood as everyone else, though.

"What's the matter, Yui?" she asked the tiny pixie on her shoulder. "Isn't it great that we managed to win thanks to him?"

The little pixie was silent as she continued to watch Kenshin get dogpiled by the surrounding players. Her eyes were completely serious as she continued to examine him. Whatever was bothering her on her mind, she didn't say it.

She didn't tell anyone her thoughts after analyzing the man who called himself Kenshin. Or more precisely, that time when he referred to himself as Battōsai the Manslayer.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This was seriously pretty long for me. I guess I like the idea a lot of having an actual, experienced swordsman like Kenshin play in a virtual world where death isn't a finality. I forgot how much he says "Oro" a lot too.**

 **If you noticed that he doesn't have that "de-gozaru" speech in, I purposely didn't put that in since the guy has pretty much grown up through modern Japan here. I don't believe I need to add such old style speech. Plus, it would be a serious pain in the ass to keep doing so, whether in Japanese or English.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

* * *

Kenshin held his katana perfectly steady. His body angled in a way that would allow him to move quickly in a single step. The opponent in front of him was still. There was no fear in its face. There was no doubt in its mind. It merely stood still, watching his every move, his very soul. It simply waited for him to attack.

In one smooth motion, Kenshin slashed his blade in a horizontal slash, bisecting the enemy easily…

Or it should have.

"Oro?"

A window popped up in his vision, accompanied by large beeping sounds and a red X.

"That's why you were told to use magic against it…"

Lyfa sighed as she stood to the side watching the Red-haired Cait Sith repeatedly slash, slice, and cut the tutorial slime. She had been offering her guidance to him ever since he had started the tutorial program.

She had volunteered to escort Kenshin to the Cait Sith capital in Freelia so that he could finish start with the basic tutorial program designated for his race. He couldn't use the Slyph's version since each race had their own specific quirks and spells.

At first, Lyfa thought he had just been lying to them at being a beginner here. But after seeing him struggle so much with some of the easiest programs in the tutorial… Forget about being a beginner, he wasn't even familiar with any aspects of video games, light novels, or even fantasy!

The boy simply did not know anything outside of swordsmanship. He breezed through the physical combat programs like they were nothing. However, when it came to using magic, UI control, and monster weaknesses…

Noob.

He was a total noob.

"Really…" Lyfa sighed again. "How can you use an OSS when you don't even know how to operate the system menu?"

Kenshin was now struggling to remove the slime that enveloped his head. He was bashing it with the hilt of his katana, but he ended up just hitting himself, the failure window popping up and beeping over and over as he did so. The slime was a variant specific to the tutorial program and was also totally resistant to physical damage. It only had a single point of hp but would only die from magic damage.

"Help me!" He had resorted to trying to pick the slime off with his bare hands as he ran around all over the tutorial zone.

"He doesn't really make much sense does he, Yui-chan?" said Lyfa.

The cute little voice she expected did not answer her.

She looked over to her shoulder to find out why the little pixie wasn't answering her. On her shoulder, Yui was watching Kenshin's antics a little too seriously. In fact, ever since the battle in the Ancient Forest, she's been pretty silent the entire time in their journey here.

"…Yui-chan?"

Lyfa didn't know it, but Yui had been recording every single movement Kenshin has made since the tutorial program had begun. She was compiling every single data and analyzing it.

"Lyfa-san," said Yui suddenly. "Maybe… maybe it's best if we leave him by himself now."

"Eh?" Her eyes wide. "But he's not even done with the flight program yet. With the way he' is right now, I think it will take him a long time before he finishes the tutorial."

Yui was silent as she seemed to struggle of what to say to her.

"What's wrong, Yui-chan?" Lyfa was concerned by the recent mood of her Oniichan's daughter.

Yui was grabbing her skirt. "Strange…" she said, her grip tightening. "He's really too strange…"

That much was true. The boy had appeared out of nowhere with a monster train behind him, was able to kill an experienced group of Salamanders by himself, and even performed OSS that passed 20-hits.

But those weren't really any reason to abandon him when he had saved them from being wiped.

"Aren't you being too rude, Yui-chan?" said Lyfa. "He may be a little bit weird, but you shouldn't really ostracize for that."

Yui shook her head. "You don't understand…"

The little pixie couldn't really voice out her concerns because she herself wasn't entirely sure of her own theories. There were things that didn't make sense from her analysis of the one who called himself Kenshin.

As originally a mental health counseling program, Yui had learned a variety of skills that would help her see a player's mental health condition and help them cope with any related stress on their minds. And since she became a self-aware AI, one could say that she was a psychologist with first rate observational skills.

And what she had observed…

The way Kenshin had fought. Each stroke of his blade was aimed at critical points of the players. The thing was that critical points of avatars in game were based on vital areas of people or close counterparts of monsters like animals in real life. After all, striking an opponent in the neck should cause more damage than hitting them on their toes. However, that in itself wasn't what caused Yui's unease.

The problem was how such a new player to the game, one who claims to be new to any kind of video game, could possibly know where to strike those vital areas with such ease. She saw the way he handled the katana. Compared it to first time users, and even veteran players, it was experienced and trained.

She had repeatedly played the scene of Kenshin's battle with the Salamanders over and over in her memory in slow motion. There was no hesitation in his steps, his strikes that killed those Salamanders so easily. That time when he held himself before them and called himself…

Battōsai… the Manslayer.

The only time he had lied was when he told them he had lost his sword. It was why Yui confronted him and asked if he meant to do bad things to them. Everything else he said to them after was true… including calling himself a manslayer.

Of course, Yui thought that she could be wrong. She didn't have nearly enough information about him to get a clear picture, but she was gathering more data about him during tutorial. There were monsters that he didn't do so well against, but he had learned quickly enough when he found out their weaknesses. The ones he did very well against… They we're all humanoid types, similar in vital areas as human beings.

"This person…" began Yui, trying to think of how to tell Lyfa that this player maybe a real life killer. "He might be-"

"Lyfa-san!" Kenshin's panicked voice interrupted her. "Please save meee!"

The Cait Sith samurai was on the ground about to die from the slime eating his head.

"Geez." Lyfa went over and started to cast a spell. "Airball."

The slime disintegrated, leaving Kenshin's hair all blown up from the gush of wind.

"…Oro?"

Lyfa giggled at seeing his funny look. "Even though your health goes down, you can't die in the tutorial."

"…Is that so?" said Kenshin weakly.

"You should really-geh?!" Lyfa was surprised when she noticed the in-game time on her vision. "It's already that late and I haven't started dinner yet?!" She opened the game menu with her left hand. "Yui-chan, I'll try and come back quickly. Kenshin, please take care of her for me while I'm away!"

With a press of a button, Lyfa was logged out of the game, leaving her character in its away state.

Yui and Kenshin were both left staring blankly at her before both staring at each other.

* * *

Suguha quickly removed the amusphere off her head. With great haste, she got out of her room and went downstairs towards the kitchen.

Because of all that's happened in the game, she had totally forgotten that it was her turn to prepare dinner tonight. Her Oniichan should be expecting a meal when he got back from his date with Asuna.

"Hey, Sugu."

As soon as Suguha came downstairs, she saw her Oniichan sitting at the dining room table. He waved at seeing her.

"Oniichan?!"

He wasn't the only one who was there too.

"Hello there, Suguha-chan," smiled Asuna as she was setting down a plate of food on the table. "I hope you don't mind that made dinner already. Kazuto-kun said it was fine for me to use the kitchen."

"Asuna-san?" said Suguha. "Weren't you two still out on a date?" The couple both blushed. "How come you guys are here?"

"W-Well, Asuna mentioned she was getting really good at cooking now," said Kazuto. "So I invited her over to make dinner for us. I know you said you wanted to try her cooking too."

Suguha thought that it would have been nice if he had told her that beforehand, so she wouldn't have had to rush down. Well at least she didn't have to spend the time making dinner anymore.

"You should take a seat already, Suguha-chan," said Asuna. "I've already just finished preparing everything."

Suguha simply nodded and joined her Oniichan on the table. They soon started eating the wonderful meal that Asuna had made. She had to admit that her cooking was really impressive. It kind of made her a little bit envious, of her skill and her taking her Oniichan.

"So how goes the war?" Kazuto asked his little sister after they were mostly done eating. "Salamander still not giving up?"

"Not at all," sighed Suguha. "If anything, they're actually getting more aggressive in their attempts."

"I wonder what happened that they would want to restart the war against the Slyphs?" said Asuna. "There doesn't seem to be any good reason for them to start taking resources from the neutral zones near Slyph territories when they had been too busy conquering the floors in Aincrad."

When New Aincrad had appeared in the big update some time ago, the Salamanders were the first ones to declare their intent upon being the first ones to clear up to the 100th floor. So it was a pretty big surprise for everyone playing the game when they had suddenly stopped their attempts and began taking territories from the Slyphs.

"I really can't see General Eugene giving up on clearing the floors," Kazuto frowned as he closed his eyes in thought. "He was just so adamant about it before."

"His brother is the one pulling all the strings," said Suguha. "Unfortunately, no one has been able to get a clear reason as to why, even the guys from the Salamander side. Sakuya seemed pretty stressed out about it."

Everyone started to pick up their plates and help clean up. Suguha would log back in as soon as she got back to her room. Kazuto would probably walk Asuna back home before logging on himself.

"Ah!" piped Suguha. "I forgot to mention that our party met a really weird guy in the game."

"Weird?" both Asuna and Kazuto asked as they continued cleaning.

"A beginner Cait Sith samurai with red hair and an X scar on his cheek," Suguha said seriously. "You should have seen him, Oniichan! He killed a dozen Salamanders and their leader in a minute! He even used an OSS that I'm sure had over twenty hits!"

"Eh? Seriously?" Both Kazuto and Asuna had amazed expressions.

"It was, it was!" Suguha nodded vigorously. "I'm actually helping him right now with the tutorial program."

Asuna and Kazuto shared a look.

"Didn't you say that he was a beginner?" said Kazuto. "How was he able to kill a dozen Salamanders and have an OSS? That doesn't seem to make sense."

"And you're helping him in the tutorial program?" added Asuna.

"Well…"

Suguha briefly explained how the boy seemed to be only really good with a sword and not much else. Even the basics of the basics of video games just went over his head. She then retold them of how exactly he had met with them, along with the monster train he brought with him.

"If he really did do all of that, then he must be quite impressive." Asuna had taken the liberty of brewing everyone tea as they continued talking. "An OSS of that caliber…"

Mother's Rosario was – or had been – the strongest and longest combo chain for an OSS. Asuna was now the sole possessor of that skill. There hadn't been anyone else who had been able to beat it. Although, Kiritio had been trying recreate the 16-hit Starburst Stream combo from his SAO days, he hasn't been successful as of yet.

"Maybe you just didn't see it right, Sugu," Kirito laughed. "You probably didn't have a good view, since you were a Remain Light during the time."

"That might be true…" Suguha frowned. It had happened so quickly, so she couldn't be too sure how many strikes there really was. "He still won so easily against them though." She looked at her Oniichan, then sighed. "How is that there are so many OP players?"

"Don't be absurd." Kazuto noticed she was talking about him. "There aren't even any levels in ALfheim Online like back in SAO. I'm pretty much on the same playing field as everyone else."

"Hmm…" Asuna and Suguha both looked disbelievingly at him.

No one who has ever played with him as Kirito would ever think he was on the same level as anyone else. There were very few people who could compete with him and win.

"I should probably head back." Suguha got off her seat. "I bet he still hasn't cleared the tutorial yet."

She said goodnight and went upstairs to her room, leaving only Asuna and Kazuto all alone on the table.

"A new player, huh?" said Asuna, pouring another cup of tea for herself. "Maybe he's really just a smurf?"

"Even if he was, I haven't heard of a guy with a strong OSS like the one Sugu described," countered Kazuto. "And I really don't see what reason he could have for being one."

"Heh?" A mischievous smile appeared on Asuna's face. "Maybe he's planning on stealing your little sister's heart?"

"Pfft!" Kazuto choked on his tea. He pounded his chest to get it out of his lungs. "D-Don't joke around like that!"

"Who's joking?" Asuna played innocent. "You're sister is really popular in game after all. She's got more fans than I ever did in our time in SAO."

Kazuto looked sick at hearing that.

"Is… that true?" he asked.

"You probably don't notice at all because of how dense you are." Asuna flicked him on his forehead. "Be careful this samurai doesn't sweep her off her feet and steal your precious little sister away from you."

Kazuto rubbed the painful spot on his forehead before strongly declaring, "I won't let that happen! As her big brother, I will protect my little sister from any sleazy bastards that dare lay their hands on her!"

Asuna giggled at his reaction.

"Hey Kazuto-kun," she said. "Do you think it's possible to make an OSS like the one Suguha-chan described? I mean, she may have been mistaken, but can someone actually ever make an OSS like it?"

Kazuto-kun frowned in thought.

"…It's possible," he answered after thinking for some time. "While the system itself is built as a game, the foundations were more or less based on true physics of the real world. It wouldn't be too surprising if a beginner was actually able to do an OSS on his first time in the game."

"What?" Asuna wasn't really expecting that answer. "How would that work? It was pretty hard for me when I first started. I don't think I could've made an OSS back then if we had the same feature in SAO."

"How to put this?" Kazuto tapped his finger on the table. "It's a bit like how skills from the game can affect your experience outside of it. Like how someone who has never held a sword before and plays the game can suddenly start practicing kendo above that of an amateur."

"Well our minds probably get the experience from our movements and using skills in the game," nodded Asuna. "I can certainly say that using the cooking skill, as simple as it was compared to the battle system, was a good factor in helping me learn how to cook IRL. Still, I don't see how this helped a beginner make an OSS."

"Well, you see… the opposite could be also be said to be true. A person familiar with using swords, like fencers and kendo-users, would be different from the regular users, even if both of them just started the game at the same time. If you put them 1v1, then most likely the person with sword experience would win out."

"That's true," agreed Asuna. "It's kind of like your little sister, I guess?"

"Well… yeah." Kazuto smiled uneasily as he remembered how his sister had told her how quickly she had become one of the best players in ALfheim Online. "She did went to the nationals, after all."

Lyfa's speed is within the top 5 of all Sylphs. Her speed has been forged by training her reflexes for many years and honed by a year of playing ALO. She had been confident that no matter who she encountered, one-on-one her speed would not lose out to anyone. That was until her brother and the other SAO survivors joined the game though.

"Almost all of the sword skills in the game are more or less possible to recreate IRL," continued Kazuto. "The most basic skills and move sets were taken and recorded from various sword styles all around the world. From there, the advanced skills were built up and created."

"So people who already learned those skills outside the game could use them inside the game," said Asuna. "Or at least some similar versions of it."

Kazuto nodded. "In the game, players exceed the physical limits of our regular bodies. Only one thing controls how fast you can move: the speed at which your brain receives signals from the «Full Dive» system and reacts to them. Amusphere sends signals to the brain's cognitive faculties, then the brain processes these signals and produces signals which control the motor functions of the body. These signals are then intercepted by the Amusphere system. The faster a player's brain is able to do this, the faster the player can move in the game. Innate reflexes are one of the things that determine how fast this happens but the speed is also improved with experience, so the longer one plays the faster they can move."

"I see." Asuna seemed to finally understand. "If what you say is true, then that samurai must be a really experienced practitioner. He might be pretty old. That would explain why he isn't familiar with any game terms and acts like a complete beginner." There was a slight look of apprehension on her face. "I know its common, but it's still hard to stomach imagining an old man pretending to be a boy in his prime."

Kazuto laughed. "That's how online games have always been. Just be glad that ALO at least has a gender lock in place." He got closer to her and whispered, "Can you imagine if Agil played a character like Silica?"

In her mind, Asuna pictured the burly dark man skipping around ALO in a skirt, acting all cute and vulnerable…

She slammed her head down on the table to get rid of the image quickly.

"You're so mean, Kazuto-kun!" she said while her head was still on the table. "I'm going to tell Agil!"

Kazuto burst out laughing.

The two finished cleaning up soon after. Kazuto then escorted Asuna home for the night.

* * *

"Uhm… am I doing something wrong?"

Kenshin was uneasy… _very_ uneasy. His cat ears kept twitching sporadically.

Anyone would be when a cute little girl was staring daggers at them. Yui had not spoken a single word to him since Lyfa left. He had tried his best to ignore the eyes that bore through his back whilst he went through the tutorial. But as expected… having a cute little, innocent pixie eye him full of distrust was just too painful!

 _"_ _Why?!"_ Kenshin thought. _"She was so nice and kind when we first met!"_

He had always been good with kids. They would come to him asking to play with them. There had been very few who hated him, his own son being one. He thought that maybe she was similar to Kenji in some way.

"As I thought…"

Kenshin stopped what he was doing when he heard the tiny pixie finally speak. He looked over to her curiously.

"Your swordsmanship," she said. "It's too sharp…"

"Uhm…" Kenshin didn't quite understand if she was complimenting him or not. "I'm not sure what Yui-chan means."

"That OSS you used against the Salamander boss," continued the pixie. "I've replayed it in slow motion in my memory repeatedly." Kenshin's face stiffened. "At that speed, it would be considered a fully mastered level skill."

"Ahaha…" Kenshin looked away, sweat dripping down his back. "I probably got lucky someone gave it to me when I first started. I mean, I was pretty out of it when I first got here."

"LIAR!" shouted Yui.

She flew over to him until she was floating a few inches away from his face. Her eyes looked steadily into his, not breaking away for a single moment.

"I told you that my papa and mama said that lying is no good," she said quietly. "That time when you told us you lost your sword… that was a lie, wasn't it?" Kenshin was surprised by this. "Everything else you told us was true. At least, that's what I think."

By no means was her ability to know the truth from people perfect. It's not a 100% accurate. There are certain times and situations where it is not possible for her to discern the lies from the truths. It also varies from person to person. Much like how phycology treatment is different for each individual.

"That skill you used," continued Yui. "It wasn't a skill in the game or an OSS at all. I could tell because there was no system assist at all during that time you used it." She hugged her shoulders, unsure. "That was your own real skill… your own experience that you used to defeat that man, and those others. The skills of a manslayer…"

"I see…" Kenshin smiled sadly as he seemed to have understood what he had done. "As you said, lying seems to have given me no good. Having a cute little one like yourself hear me lie is truly terrible." He paused for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and said, "But I told you, didn't I? That I don't seek to harm you or any of your friends. What I said was true."

"…Yes," Yui reluctantly agreed. "But I still won't feel satisfied with just that."

"Then tell me what I can do to put your heart at ease."

Yui was silent as she contemplated on what exactly would make her feel better. The things on her mind that plagued her about him was the most serious one.

She moved closer to Kenshin and asked, "Tell me… are you a killer?"

Without hesitation, he replied, "I have never truly killed a person in this entire life of mine here, nor will I ever will."

Yui watched him for a single sign of deception. His eyes were determined. They were resolute, strong, and clear. What he said was true.

"Good!"

Yui finally gave him a smile, filled with approval. She twirled around in the air before setting herself beside his shoulder.

There were many things about him that Yui still couldn't figure out, but the face he had shown her have managed to clear her some of her serious doubts of him. It wasn't the face of a killer that she saw, but that of someone who knew how precious life truly was.

"I knew Kenshin-san was a kind person!" she proudly stated.

"My, my," Kenshin was slightly embarrassed. "I thank you for believing in me. Your words do mean a lot to me."

A small window popped up in front of Kenshin, asking him if he still wanted to continue with the tutorial.

"Okay!" shouted Yui enthusiastically. "It's time we finished this tutorial and got back into the real game!"

"Yes!"

Kenshin and Yui both raised their hands with full determination. Their auras blazed with the fire of their spirits.

After some time, Lyfa finally came back to join them. She stood to their sides, letting out another exasperated sigh.

"It's good that you two seem to be getting along so well now, but I think you might have pushed the tutorial a little too far Yui-chan." Lyfa picked up the guilty looking fairy by her wings. "Really… how is he supposed to learn this way?"

"But all other beginners did so well when they did it…" Yui mumbled. "So I thought that maybe increasing the number of targets would make it easier on him."

"The number of targets doesn't really matter if he can't get rid of even a single one!" Lyfa pointed to where Kenshin was.

Under a pile of blue slimes, only a single cat tail could be clearly seen of the samurai. The player inside the slime pile was completely unable to move inside, floating like a dead fish.

"Orooo…" he bubbled out.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **No good fights on this chapter, but at least Kirito and Asuna are here. I think that Kenshin would be stronger in pure swordsmanship against anyone in the universe of SAO (In my mind, the LN stopped before Alicalization happened). It doesn't mean that he is unbeatable, since he's more used to having his feet on the ground and not fighting with spells, non-humanoid monsters, and special items and conditions that are normally found in an RPG.**

 **Also, I'm not entirely 100% sure yet with the pairings. I'm still juggling the idea around for potential ones, but Asuna is definitely not going to be it. Right now I'm leaning towards Lyfa, but that may change in the future.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please inform me if there is something with the grammar and such.**

* * *

Kirigaya Suguha sat absentmindedly in class. Her thoughts were far off into the lands of ALfheim Online. Being one of Lady Sakuya's trusted players, she had been busy the past several days with the war with the Salamanders. Her Oniichan and the others were also helping out, but a lot more work was given to her due to her being a Slyph. Even Nagata Shinichi, her classmate and friend who plays as Recon, was currently napping in class.

"Suguha-san…?"

Her kendo practice had been getting pretty intense lately due to the upcoming school competitions next month, so she'd been staying a lot later in school. The rivalry between schools is particularly fierce this year.

"Suguha-san?"

Oh and then there was the fact that she was worried how the little Cait Sith samurai was doing. She hadn't seen him since she helped him finish the tutorial program. She would probably try and check up on him when she logged on tonight.

"Suguha-san!"

"Eh?" The dazed young girl had finally snapped out of her daydreams. "W-What is it?"

Her female classmate sighed at her, shaking her head. "I was asking your thoughts on the transfer student. Were you perhaps not listening the entire time?"

It was lunch time right now. A few of the girls had gotten together and were laughing and gossiping about their school life. She had gotten dragged into the conversation because her seat happened to be nearby. Like most conversations between females of her class, the topic had shifted to that about boys, namely that of a certain new transfer student.

"Like I said," her classmate voiced out a little louder. "What do you think about Genbei-san?"

"Genbei-san?" Suguha's eyes glanced at the boy seated at the back of the class. He was surrounded by a couple of other boys who were talking and laughing along with him. "Oh, him! He was pretty nice…"

She had pretty much put him out of her mind because of how busy she's been. The cat that he had given her was doing pretty well at her house. She had even given him the name Shiro.

"Hmm?" her classmate looked at her suspiciously. "You sound like you've already met him, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen you talk to him since he got here."

Suguha shifted uneasily in her seat. "Well… I accidentally knocked him down on my way home."

"Oh! Is it _that_ kind of development?!" One of the girls squealed. "Did you two happen to get closer when you bumped into each other all alone in the street?!" Her classmate's breathing got louder while her eyes had a wild look in them. "Or perhaps… an accidental kiss that caused your hearts to open to the dawn of love?!"

"That's not what happened at all!"

Suguha had slammed her hands down loudly on her table as she quickly stood up. Her shout had caught the entire class' attention. Kenshin and the boys were also looking at her curiously. Her face turned red as an apple before she quickly returned to her seat.

Thankfully the school bell rang, signaling the end of lunch hour. She was now completely wide awake for the rest of her classes. Most of that time, she had spent trying to calm herself from her earlier embarrassment. By the time school was over she was mostly back to normal after some rigorous training in the kendo club.

"Ha…" she sighed tiredly as she walked back home. "Those girls should really try talking about more important things in school."

She wasn't really one to talk when she herself had been occupied with thoughts about playing online.

It was night now as she walked back home. The sun had already gone down by the time she was finished with kendo class. It had been a particularly long day for her because her captain wasn't there due to an emergency at home.

"It looks like they still haven't finished replacing the broken lights yet," she commented as she saw some of the darkened areas ahead of her.

It was only yesterday that a small transformer had overloaded in this part of the city that had caused some of the lamplights to blow out. The city maintenance were quick to respond, but the repairs may have taken a bit longer than necessary due to safety issues on what had caused the initial overload.

Suguha stared at the darkened street ahead of her. There were no other people out right now and everything seemed eerily quiet. It was also fairly cold out right now.

"It feels like a ghost might appear…" she chuckled nervously.

She lived in a very nice neighborhood so there wasn't really any incidents of crime near them. She was pretty sure she'd be perfectly fine going home. There were no such things as ghosts anyways.

Tap.

She heard something behind her. A chill suddenly ran up her spine. That single sound that echoed throughout the entire street had caused her to freeze in her steps underneath one of the broken lights. Slowly, she turned her head to see where the sound had come from.

Behind her, she could see no one but the empty street that were sporadically lit by the remaining street lamps that were left unbroken. She watched and waited for a full minute before she dismissed it as nonsense and started to walk again.

Tap.

Again, she stopped dead in her tracks. The sound was once more heard, not even a few moments before she had started walking. A cold feeling appeared on her stomach. Once more, she turned around to check behind her. There in the shadows underneath a broken streetlight, where she had just been... something moved.

She flinched.

 _"_ _Just now… I'm pretty sure there's something there…"_ she thought. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. _"No, no, no! I'm just imagining things. The stress is probably getting to me. There's really no such things as ghosts…"_

She turned around and started walking again, this time at a quicker pace.

Tap.

Suguha's already quickened heart began to pound loudly in her chest as she heard the same sound once more. This time, without looking back, she ran ahead. Her leg muscles strained with the speed in which she put into them. Holding tightly to her things, she ran with all her might.

The tapping sounds behind her had turned louder and quicker. She realized they were footsteps, but she was too scared to look back and see who or what it belonged to. A distance away from her, she could see the lights coming from her family's house.

 _"_ _I'm almost there,"_ she thought, a look of relief on her face.

It was then that the footsteps behind her had suddenly gotten faster and louder. Her back tingled with an unknown feeling of dread at the fast approaching sounds.

It was gaining on her.

 _"_ _I… I'm not going to make it!"_ Her breath was ragged from her sudden sprint. She was too tired from her practice earlier. She couldn't run any faster.

 _"_ _Guh! If it's going to be like this…"_

Suguha stopped and turned around. She threw her bag on the ground and brought out her shinai. With weapon in hand, she readied her stance and faced the oncoming threat in front of her.

"C-Come!" she yelled with as much courage as her quaking voice could allow. "I-I'll take you on face to face!"

Both hands gripped tightly onto her shinai, she raised it high above her head and sent it down quickly, hitting solidly upon the head of her classmate with a loud thwack…

"…Eh?"

Genbei Kouda went down in a single hit. His whole body was face down on the cold concrete street. A twitch of his leg was the only sign that he was still alive.

"Ge-Genbei-san?!"

Immediately Suguha knelt down and turned the fallen boy over. She saw him dazed and confused, likely he may have gotten a concussion. She had put all her fear and desperation into that strike, after all. It was no wonder the boy was completely out of it.

"…Orooo?"

"Oro?" Suguha repeated. "It can't be… Kenshin?!"

The Cait Sith samurai was the only person Suguha ever knew who spoke like that. It was just one of those weird things about him that she had noticed after speaking to him for a while.

"Slimes…" murmured Genbei, his semi-conscious face twisted in pain. "So many slimes…"

"It is you!"

It took some time before Genbei was fully conscious. The boy rubbed the top of his head, wincing as he did so. Once he was able to stand back up on his feet, Suguha apologized to him profusely.

"I've messed up again," she whimpered while having her head bowed to him. "To think I would hurt you a second time, at the same place even…"

Genbei, for that matter, looked a lot more troubled that he was causing his classmate to feel so guilty again. "It's no big deal, really." He tried to laugh it off. "I really should have called out to you first. I thought I'd catch up easy enough to you, Kirigaya-san, but you started to run pretty fast."

"Th-That's because I thought you were a ghost or something!"

"Oro?" Genbei tilted his head, then smiled at her. "So Kirigaya-san is afraid of ghosts, correct?"

Suguha's face was so red, people would think she had a fever.

"I'm not!" she vehemently denied. "Anyway why were you chasing after me in the first place?" A little too hastily, she tried to change the subject. "A boy shouldn't be chasing around girls at night."

"Oh, that's right." Genbei took something from his pants pocket. In his hand he held a small green purse, probably for small change. "I think you dropped this when you had started running. I wanted to give it back to you."

Suguha recognized it as indeed hers.

"Oh… thank you." She received it back undamaged. "But how come you were walking so strangely in the first place?" she asked, a little annoyed. "I wouldn't have gotten scared if you didn't keep stopping whenever I did."

Genbei also explained to her that he couldn't really see her all that well in the dark either. He had thought someone with ill intent was waiting for him. She had also been stopping at the same spots where the lamplights where broken, so he was wary of getting too close to her. It was only at the time just before she ran that he had finally recognized her.

"So that was it," Suguha sighed. She felt so foolish for this whole misunderstanding.

"It was a bit silly." Kenshin laughed cheerily, not seeming to mind that he had gotten conked on his head.

There was another matter she still hadn't gone over yet. The matter of his identity was still lingering on her mind.

"Genbei-san," she called his attention. "Do you perhaps… play ALO?"

Kenshin blinked blankly at her sudden question. He paused as he seemed to think about something, but then, with a sheepish grin he nodded.

"My, my, it's surprising that Lyfa-san was able to recognize me, even though I look quite a bit different from my avatar."

"Kenshin?! No… wait, before that how did you know who I was?!"

"Well I haven't really met many people yet beside you, Klein-san and the others in your party," he answered. "And your stance from earlier was pretty much the same as when I had met you in the game."

Her sword skills in game were a direct result of her kendo training. It was the reason why she got so good at the game, even when she had just started as a beginner.

But still…

"You knew who I was just by the way I held my shinai?" she said doubtfully. "That's pretty impressive. I don't think just anyone could do that."

"Unlike me, you seem to share a close resemblance to your game character. Besides your hair and other minor details."

"Really?" Suguha didn't really see it that way. She wasn't unhappy with how she looked in the game, but she sometimes envied the others from SAO who looked a lot like their real selves because they imported their character into ALO. "I don't think I look all that much the same, though."

"Your… uh, size helped me in recognizing your stance earlier."

"My size?" Suguha furrowed her eyebrows. "I guess I am about the same height as my avatar." But then she noticed her classmate had taken a quick glance somewhere before looking away immediately. "Pervert!" She slapped him hard on his cheek. "Have you been watching my chest since we've met?!"

"Oro?!"

Suguha picked up her things and walked away fuming to her house, leaving Kouda with his cheek almost glowing in pain.

"Ahaha…" He tenderly touched his sore cheek. "It certainly has been a while since I've felt this kind of pain… And here I thought I'd never have to experience something like it again."

* * *

"Alicia-sama!"

"Geh?!"

Alicia Rue, the lord of the Cait Siths, had been happily browsing through the market square of Freelia. However, right now, the so-called leader of one of ALfheim's nine major races, hid inside an empty barrel beside a fish stall, hoping to avoid the person looking for her.

"Alicia-sama?!" Her assistant stopped just right beside her hiding place. "Geez! It's just like her playing around again when there's work to be done!"

A few seconds later the assistant had left. Slowly, Alicia peeked out of her barrel, watching for any signs of her strict assistant. She jumped out with a flip, landing daintily on her feet, just like a cat would.

"Fufufu… so sorry my dear assistant," she snickered. "I didn't log-in so early today just to do more work. It's my time to have fun again!"

With a cheerful smile and a positive outlook, she began to skip merrily along the streets of her kingdom. It had been a while since the last time she was able to freely walk among the streets with other players. The war between Slyphs and Salamanders, while fun in its own way, was also causing an increase in her workload as lord of the Cait Siths who were allied to their neighboring Slyphs.

She watched the activity around her as she idly passed by. An NPC was shouting out its wares, trying to attract customers. Several players chatted nearby as they talked about doing a dungeon run for some newly discovered dungeon. There was also a small crowd of people gathered next to the city proving grounds, no doubt trying to reserve an open duel area for practice.

The proving grounds was a good source of entertainment, for both audience and participants. It was an open space arena with various large, elevated stone rings in the middle where players could fight in. It was a place where players could freely use the PvP system without any fear of death penalties coming from a full death match. However, flight was disabled inside the ring, since the space wasn't particularly large enough to fully support aerial combat.

The way it's setup is a little bit similar to gladiator matches. There are also certain times when events such as tournaments are held, but it's mostly used as a place to spar most of the time.

"I suppose I can loosen up a little here." Alicia skipped over to the registration area. She hadn't been in a good fight for a while.

There was a system in place where one could register for random matches. It was created so that people of different strengths could test themselves against opponents weaker or even stronger than them. It had no restrictions on player skill levels, and would allow anyone to just come up and start fighting. The matches varied between the regular duel system such as: First blood, half-life, and full on death match. Aside from the popular one-on-one, there were also duos and teams that could fight with the same number or players.

This system allowed new players to experience how to play against other players, whether in single or group combat. Most everyone in the game has gone through it in identical setups from the various cities of the other nine races.

After coming up to the female NPC in charge of registrations, Alicia said, "One for single combat death match please!"

The NPC nodded in confirmation before looking over her work screen for available spots. Before long, the NPC looked back at Alicia and replied, "I'm sorry but all single combat rings are currently in use."

"Eh?!"

Alicia was dismayed at hearing so.

"M-Maybe I can just put in a reservation?" she asked hopefully. "I'll take the next available one!"

The NPC shook her head. "I'm sorry, but all the reservations for today have been booked. There is no openings left until tomorrow."

"No way…"

The NPC ignored Alicia's downhearted face and continued, "If you wish, you could find a partner and enter the duo combat rings." The strict looking receptionist started checking her work screen for spots. "Most of them are still available. And there are also available spots for team combat."

"Hmm… duo combat, huh?" Alicia held her chin as she thought about it.

She couldn't really gather up a group to go with her for the team combat, since that would most likely alert her assistant to her location. Duo combat would be simpler, since she could just grab anyone off the street to go with her.

"Okay!" she nodded. "Just register me for duo combat!"

"You'll need to have a partner with you to register," said the NPC. "Both of you need to be present for me to process your registration."

Alicia started to look around for a suitable tagalong when a confused and dazed looking red-haired Cait Sith stumbled past her eyes. The young man wore purple light cloth tunic, white trousers, and black leather boots. In Alicia's eyes he looked nothing but a newbie that's finally gotten some decent equipment. However, the most important thing was that he looked very gullible…

With a sly smile, she grabbed the passing samurai and pulled him over to her in front of the receptionist and said, "This guy here's gonna be my partner!"

"Oro?" Her just now partner looked between her and the receptionist.

"Please, I'm in a bit of a bind, so I'd really appreciate it if you just went along," she whispered pleadingly, her cat ears and tail folded down. "It's nothing big. I just need another player.

"Very well," nodded the NPC in confirmation. "Your names please?"

"Alicia Rue."

The lord of the Cait Siths then looked at the samurai beside her with teary eyes.

"…Kenshin."

With one final nodded the NPC said, "Registration is complete. Please proceed to ring B-2 to face your opponents."

"Opponents…?" Kenshin had a baffled look on his face. "What – but why?!"

"Hehe!" Alicia jumped up in joy. "Success!"

She grabbed her confused partner by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out towards the ring. There was no problem in her mind, since she didn't really care if her partner was a beginner or not. She had planned to do all the fighting anyway. In fact, she thought that this was a lot better than what she originally planned on anyway.

Alicia, like Sakuya, was a regular competitor in the ALfheim world tournament scene. Her skills were actually a lot better than her fellow lord since she was less of a corporate worker type, and thus, have more free time to polish her skills because most of her administrative duties are done by people like her assistant, who only ever really need her for some major decisions and such.

"I don't know what's going on, but please release me!" her partner said as he tried to struggle away from her grip.

"You'll be fine," smiled Alicia, before promptly throwing him into their designated ring. "You can just stand around there while I do everything else."

Once she jumped up into the ring, she fitted her metal claws over her knuckles, securing them tightly. The three bladed claws fit snugly. She tested it a few times, slashing and thrusting at the empty air in front of her like a seasoned pro.

"Right!" Alicia smiled happily, satisfied at her warmup. "Let's get this show started!"

In front of her were two Cait Sith players, one with a staff and the other with a sword and round shield. By the looks of them, she could tell that these two were most likely experienced players, likely testing out some new gear they probably just got.

"A-Alicia-sama?!" said the one with the staff. "Why are you here?!"

"Don't worry, don't worry," she waved off in a carefree manner. "Even if I am a lord, I'm still a player just like you guys. Just go ahead and fight like you normally do. No need to hold back. That would be boring if you did."

Her two opponents shared an uneasy look between them before nodding at each other. They both came up closer to the ring with their weapons held tight in their hands. Alicia's reputation as a fighter was no less than her reputation as their lord. They knew that they would be hard-pressed against her.

The countdown for the battle to start popped up above their ring. Their names followed by their hp were displayed clearly. Kratz was the name of the mage. His sword and shield partner was named Dunbur. There was about 30 seconds before the battle begins.

"Uhm… Alicia-sama?" the vanguard of the two spoke. With his sword, he pointed over behind her. "What about your partner over there?"

A few meters away from them, Kenshin lay sprawled face down on the ground with his tail twitching after being thrown so forcefully up into the ring by Alicia.

"Ah, him… you can just ignore him since I just needed him to fulfill the minimum requirements to get a match."

Both of her opponents nodded. The two were happy enough to oblige because Alicia would need their full attention if they wanted a chance to actually live.

Their full focus concentrated upon their lord, the two combatants readied themselves as the timer was just about done. With a loud ring, the signal starting the battle commenced.

"Owaah!" With his shield raised, Dunbur the vanguard charged at Alicia. He had intended to bash the smaller Cait Sith.

"Nyahahah!" Alicia laughed as she jumped over him. "You've left your partner wide open~!" She dashed quickly towards Kratz who was busy chanting a spell. In just a few moments, she was only a stone's throw away from him.

 ** _"_** ** _Fire Lance!"_**

The magician had finished casting his spell and aimed it directly at Alicia's fast approaching form. The fiery lance burned brightly as it sailed through the air towards her.

"Too late!" Alicia was agile and far too close. With a single flip, she jumped over the spell, landing just behind Kratz. Just as the mage turned around, her claws swiped left and right, causing lethal damage.

"Kratz!" Dunbur saw his partner's body freeze up and fall due to elimination. "I won't let you get away this time!" He swung his sword at her, slashing and slashing over and over.

Alicia dodged each of the strikes magnificently. She ducked and weaved through the angry barrage of her opponent.

"Not too shabby," she said with a happy smile. "Time to finish up!"

After dodging a wide swing, her claws shined orange, indicating the start of her sword skill.

 ** _"_** ** _Cat's Cradle!"_**

Dunbur raised his shield in an attempt to block, but Alicia's skill started very low to the ground. The target of the first swipe of her right claw was his leg. He stumbled from it, unable to turn back and face his attacker who wasn't done with her combo just yet. In a single spin of her body, Alicia had managed to swipe her claws over his back three times. The final attack was a double thrust of her claws through his unshielded back. It was a 5-hit OSS that she had developed especially for handling shield bearing opponents.

As she pulled her claws off of him, the buzzer sounded the end of the match. A transparent window popped up declaring her team winning.

"Good game!" she nodded proudly to herself.

Applause came from all around the outside of the ring. A crowd seemed to have gathered to watch when some people had noticed her name appearing on the top of the ring. Alicia heard this and started waving to her fans.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Whilst taking in the praise from her audience, Alicia didn't notice a large hooded man who was watching her from the crowd. There was a small fire that burned within those eyes of his that looked at her. He stepped away from the crowd and moved towards the registration area. He was followed by a similarly hooded figure beside him.

And while all this happened, Kenshin was just left staring from the sidelines of the ring, ignored completely by everyone else as he had observed the match.

"I still don't understand why I'm here…" he complained to himself.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I should have seriously just gone without the honorifics in this fic. It's a pain trying to find who uses what honorific for who. Ugh...**

 **On the bright side, it does let me get a better feel for the characters. I don't watch anime dubbed and most of the stuff I read are fan translations as well, so I'm a little bit more used to seeing those. The only exception I can think of where the dub was better was in Cowboy Bepop.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please inform me if there is something with the grammar and such.**

* * *

"Nyahaha! Today has been great!"

Alicia had an incredibly satisfied grin on her face as she walked back to the proving grounds registration area. Beside her, contrary to her cheery radiance, was Kenshin.

"Uhm… Alicia-dono," he said. "Can I perhaps go now?"

After hearing all those people refer to her as their lord, Kenshin had given her the proper honorific to her name. Before he had finished the tutorial, Lyfa had managed to instill into him some of the very basic information about the game, including the lords of the nine races.

"Denied!" answered the lord of the Cait Siths.

"Oro?!" Kenshin hung his head down gloomily.

"Oh, come on, cheer up!" Alicia patted him on the back strongly. "It's not every day just anyone gets to fight with your lord. A guy like yourself should feel glad to be able to see a cute little thing like me fight in action. I'll even treat you to some food afterwards." She gave him a playful wink.

Kenshin gave a tired sigh, unsatisfied.

Alicia pouted at him for being such a downer on her parade. Soon, her pout turned into a mischievous smile. Showing just how agile she was, she quickly raced behind the samurai and threw herself onto his back, crossing her arms over his neck.

"It's only more match," she said close to his ear. No doubt her assistant would have heard where she was by now anyway. "I tell you what. If you do your best in the final match, I'll give you some _extra_ service."

Kenshin's face turned bright red as Alicia's seductive voice trickled from her lips into his ear. Her small but lithe body hugged close to his back. The two small soft spots of her chest was also pressing down on the cloth of his tunic.

"Now will you be a good boy and follow your lord?" The devilish little imp of a lord received a furious nod of agreement from Kenshin.

The poor boy had only agreed so that she would finally get off his back… literally.

"Good!" Alicia smiled and got back on her own two feet.

Both of them finally arrived at the same NPC as before.

"A request for a match has been made for you, Miss Alicia," said the NPC before Alicia could even say a word.

Alicia frowned, a little bit suspicious of this.

The matches in the proving grounds are, by default, random. The only time it isn't, is when a player request is left at the registration. This is often done ahead of time in agreement of both parties that plan on fighting each other. Although, there are some times where players would request to fight a particularly strong player to test or make a name for themselves, hence, staying true to the proving grounds' name.

"Ho?" Alicia's frown soon turned into a wide smile. "Even knowing who I am they still left a request for me now, did they? They sure got guts, huh?" She cracked her knuckles audibly. "Looks like the fun's just getting started. Okay then! I'll take on their request!"

The NPC nodded in acknowledgment of the confirmation.

"Your opponents are waiting at the same ring as before."

Once Alicia and Kenshin had arrived back at the ring, they saw the hooded figures of their opponents standing on the opposite end. Both of them were taller than either Cait Sith. The smaller of the two stood a step behind his bigger comrade. The bigger one was probably a vanguard, based on his stature and position that pretty much screamed warrior.

The audience from earlier hadn't dispersed. Most likely they were hoping their lord would show up for another round. They still watched from outside the ring. They cheered loudly as they saw her go up on stage.

"You can just stand in the sidelines again," Alicia said to Kenshin. "I've got this."

"It might be wise to use caution in this fight," said Kenshin. "That swordsman seems vastly more capable than you believe him to be."

Alicia was surprised the serious look her partner had on his face. His eyes narrowed as he observed the two in front of them. He was like a whole different person.

"Hmm… I don't think there are any people that strong that I know of here, but I'll take your advice since I did force you to be my partner up here after all."

As the lord of the Cait Siths, Alicia had a pretty good idea of the number of strong players within her territory. There weren't very many with large builds like the two they faced. She still heeded Kenshin's warning, because she too felt like something was a little bit off.

When both parties were at a suitable distance from one another, the timer for the battle started. As soon as the timer hit zero, Alicia ran at full speed towards the larger hooded man. She had wanted to test him and see if he really was more dangerous than he looked.

Without even waiting for her, the man met her with the same speed. Alicia was faster. She thrusted her claw towards his chest, but at the last moment, he dodged it. Vulnerable to a counterattack, she held up her claws to defend against the dark red sword coming down at her. It came down strong and fast, passing through her claws like they weren't even there.

"What?!"

Distancing herself quickly from him, Alicia fell down on her knees as she staggered from the damage she had received. 38% of her health was gone with that single swing. If she hadn't been cautious, she might not have been able to escape from with just that. It would have killed her in a single hit.

"That sword… Demonic Sword Gram?!" she said with disbelief. "Which means you're Eugene?!"

The man removed his hood, showing the bloodthirsty smile of General Eugene, head of the Salamander forces and former commander of the New Aincrad clearing army. Some in the audience gasped, murmuring between themselves at seeing the infamous general. The venue's loud cheering had dimmed from the unexpected appearance.

"Yo there, Alicia," he greeted. "It's been a while since we last met. Haven't seen you since the war started."

"Eugene… what exactly are you doing here?" Alicia was not at all happy to see him. He was one of the strongest players in ALO. Stronger than her at least. This battle just got a whole lot more complicated with his appearance. In more ways than one.

"Isn't it obvious that I'm here to fight? I did send that request, after all."

"I meant, why are you here in Freelia?" said Alicia. "Shouldn't you be busy with leading the war with the Slyphs?"

Eugene charged and swung his sword down on her which she deftly avoided. "Questions can be answered later. Right now, I'm here for a fight. Watching your match earlier really got my blood boiling!"

Alicia looked at his excited grin. The man was a battle maniac. There's no way for this to end until one of them loses.

"Heh, I'll make you regret coming here," she smiled. "It's no fun when the battles are too easy anyway."

"Exactly how I wanted it to be." Eugene turned to his comrade. "Kagemune, don't interfere with my fight."

"G-General this isn't what we're here for!" his subordinate protested. "Aren't we supposed to-"

"Shut your whining! Our business can wait until after the fight. For now, just go on and fight that other guy while you wait for me to finish. Just don't get in my way."

The meeker man's shoulder's sagged.

Alicia and Eugene both grinned at each other in anticipation. They readied themselves, waiting patiently for the first one to move. It was Eugene who couldn't wait any longer. He dashed forward, sword by his side, roaring as he slashed at his opponent. The General was not a very patient man.

He had gone here to the capital of the Cait Siths on an important mission. Unfortunately, he and his comrade had gotten a bit lost in the city. Eugene had soon found himself at the proving grounds. The sounds of people fighting had attracted his ears. He became disappointed when he had seen the level of fighters that were in the matches. Only a few minutes later he would have left if not for seeing a familiar name float up in one of the rings.

Alicia's battle had been quick and easy. It was expected of one who regularly fought in the ALO tournaments. Short as it was, Eugene felt excitement wash all over him as he finally saw a worthy opponent.

"What's wrong?" Eugene was putting pressure on Alicia with his sword. "Is this all you can do, just keep on dodging? I thought you were going to make me regret coming here!"

"Tsk!" Alicia couldn't answer back. Evading was the only way she could avoid further damage from him. Having no way to block the legendary sword's Ethereal Shift ability, she couldn't find much time to create an opening against him.

 _"_ _This isn't looking too good,"_ she thought. _"I'm down less than 40% of my health."_

Although she had managed to avoid most of his attacks, Alicia had still gotten nicked a few times by the legendary sword. A Cait Sith was one of the faster races in the game. That speed didn't really help much against someone like Eugene who was a combat addict that had experience fighting faster opponents than himself.

"Alicia-dono, I-I don't know how to defend against magic!"

A little bit away from her, Kenshin was struggling on avoiding the homing magic arrows that Kagemune casted. It was amazing enough that he could still keep his distance far enough from the arrows not to hit him, but he wouldn't really be able to retaliate since his opponent kept casting fresh arrows every few moments.

"I'm… a… little… occupied!" Alicia grunted the words out as dodged Eugene's blade that kept hacking at her. "You let them hit you or use a defense spell to mitigate the damage!"

"But I don't know how to use magic yet!" Kenshin shouted as he ducked an arrow that had almost hit him in the head.

"Then cut them apart!"

Alicia dodged another one of Eugene's sword swings, but the General had anticipated her move and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying to the ground. She staggered back on her feet, seeing the look of satisfaction on Eugene's face.

"How about you worry about yourself for now?" he said cockily.

Alicia bit her lip in frustration. _"HP is at 16% now. Ugh. Guess I can't expect to win being too cautious."_

Spreading her claws wide, Alicia went into another dash at Eugene. She kept moving left and right as she made a beeline towards him, hoping he wouldn't see through her attack. When she appeared to his right side, his sword was already pushing towards her head. Alicia spun on her heel, narrowly avoiding certain death. As she spun, she had managed to get a single swipe on his open chest.

"Guh!" Eugene stepped back away from her. The three vertical claw marks on his chest displayed clearly on his red armor. "Now that's more like it!" he laughed. "It wouldn't be funny if the lord of the Cait Siths wasn't even able to put a scratch on me."

The crowd of people cheered for their lord. They shouted out encouragement to finish of Eugene. Jeers were also sent at the general all the while.

Alicia readied her claws. The damage she gave had only taken a fourth of the General's HP. Her action had been risky, but the results were favorable. It was just unfortunate that she most likely wouldn't be able to do the same thing now. Eugene would be watching out for any other attacks like it.

As both fighters prepared for another bout, they noticed that the loud cries of the audience had silenced. The two were similarly confused by this and then saw that the people were looking at a different part of the ring.

Kagemune stood dumbfounded as he stared at Kenshin.

"What the hell…?" he said. "He cut my fireball…"

"It looked like your suggestion worked, Alicia-dono!" Kenshin sent an appreciative smile to his partner. "I should have tried that earlier."

Alicia had her jaw out staring at him like he was some kind of weird creature. She hadn't been serious when she had told him that. The truth was that she had only heard it was possible to do so from Lyfa's story from her brother. There were very few who could do the same thing. Much less who could use it in actual combat. Even she had a hard time practicing it.

"You… you were actually able to do that?"

"Yeah," nodded Kenshin. "It was actually pretty easy since they aren't really that fast."

Alicia's mouth twitched in slight irritation. "Easy you say…"

"…Red hair and an X scar on his cheek." Eugene seems to have finally taken a good look at Alicia's partner. "I remember now. You were the one who defeated Balzak and his men at the Ancient Forest! Battōsai the Manslayer!" A vicious smile spread itself across his face. "You left them shaking in their boots!"

"Eh?! Seriously?!" Alicia looked back and forth between Eugene and Kenshin. "This guy?!"

Her disbelief was understandable, considering she had thought him a regular newbie. It was kind of hard to imagine such an aloof looking guy to have been so strong.

"Uhm…" Kenshin seemed at a loss. "The name Battōsai the Manslayer was just a mistake on my part. I'd appreciate it if everyone just forgot about that."

Suddenly, Kenshin stepped quickly to his side. A pole axe came down just a few inches of his face. Kagemune hadn't stayed dumbstruck for long and had decided to attack while he was distracted.

"I'll seriously go at you for real this time," said Kagemune. He's heard of what happened to Balzak and his group. If he didn't go with everything he had, he may never get a chance of winning.

While the two had exchanged blows, Alicia, who had been distracted by the battle, was caught off guard by Eugene. His sword had pierced her chest.

"Eugene… you…"

"Sorry Alicia," Eugene said solemnly as she fell to the ground, frozen and unable to move due to her defeat. "You would've lost soon anyway. I really wanted to finish our fight fairly, but I think I'll need the rest of my HP to handle that guy."

"Alicia-dono!"

Kenshin had seen what had happened just after he had defeated Kagemune a few moments ago. Eugene had blocked his view of the downed Cait Sith lord. He raised his sword and pointed it at him.

"Now it's just you and me. Come at me seriously. Show me how you destroyed my men like grass falling to a blade. Show me what you are capable of, Battōsai the Manslayer!"

There was silence.

The tension in the air between the two had caused the surrounding crowd to still their breaths. The General of the Salamander Army had just issued a challenge to an unknown Cait Sith.

"…I see." Kenshin raised his sword. "You seem intent on fighting me. I can see your warrior's spirit isn't lacking. It really surprises me to see it here. To answer such spirit with anything less would be an insult."

The atmosphere surrounding him had changed. Eugene could feel it more than see it. Those cat eyes that watched him showed nothing but cold death that awaits him.

"Heh…" Eugene chuckled as he grabbed his sword tightly with both hands. "Just like Balzak said it was."

"Get ready. Here I come."

Eugene raised his sword just in time to block the sword stroke to his neck. The katana pressed hard on his two-handed sword. It was surprising just how much strength there was in it.

 _"_ _Fast!" he thought, impressed. "Incredibly fast!"_

If he hadn't blocked that, he was sure the match would have ended right there.

Eugene pushed back. His greater strength allowed him to lift his blade from his opponent's. He struck back. His sword sparked with each clash of their blades. Kenshin dodged, blocked, and parried his sword with sharp precision.

In just a short exchange of blows, Eugene understood that his opponent's skill with a sword exceeded his. But a fight isn't just about how well you can wield a sword. He still had his trump card. The Ethereal Shift ability of his Demonic Sword Gram. He hadn't used it in any of the blows he had dealt to the samurai.

His instincts told him that that trick would only work once against this opponent. Other players have already managed to beat him even with his sword's special ability. Even Alicia had managed to dodge it partially during the start of the battle. This time he would use it wisely. Wait until his sword was blocked close to the enemy, when there was no time to evade.

It didn't take long before the opportunity he had been waiting for arrived. Following an upward side swing of his sword, he saw that as soon as he directed it back for a vertical slash, Kenshin had lifted his sword up to block.

 _"_ _NOW!"_

Eugene roared and put as much of his strength into his sword. He saw Kenshin's eyes widen in surprise as his sword passed through his katana like it wasn't even there. Time seemed so slow to him as he pushed his sword down with all his effort, trying to make it move even just a little bit faster. And when it finally reached his opponent…

 ** _"_** ** _Explosive Strike!"_**

An explosion had occurred from the touch of his blade. A burst of light and sound shook violently in the ring. Black smoke from the explosion had enveloped the area. What Eugene had activated was a magic sword skill effect. Different from normal elemental effects, explosion has the added damage of physical force applied to it. It does well against even physical or magical resistant monsters.

"I got him!" Eugene couldn't see clearly through the smoke in front of him, but he was sure his attack had hit.

Slowly, the clouds of dust dispersed in front of him. He could finally make out the silhouette of Kenshin still standing. It would seem that his skill had been avoided somehow.

"A powerful attack, indeed it was." Kenshin had his katana sheathed while his hand hovered close to a draw to it. "It reminded me of some… unpleasant memories."

Eugene guessed that he was about to use a sword skill. He had to raise his sword up quickly to defend himself.

However, he was too late…

 ** _"_** ** _Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Sōryūsen"_**

Even if he couldn't see the katana move, Eugene had managed to take a step back to try and evade the attack. The blade had still managed to slash him, although shallow. Even so, 40% of his HP was gone from that single strike.

"I've got you now!" Eugene smiled viciously as he thought his victory was assured. He would have the chance to attack while the delay from using a skill would leave Kenshin vulnerable.

He didn't expect the second strike.

Kenshin's sheath swung with bone crushing force at Eugene's neck. What he saw as a single strike skill was actually two. The tip of the sheath impacted strongly on his neck. That attack destroyed whatever remaining HP he had left.

"…Your sheath?!" he managed to blurt out.

Eugene's body fell audibly, back first on the concrete ring. Kenshin returned his sheath to his waist, followed by his blade. The match was over. The victor decided.

The spectators had their jaws dropped at the last man standing. There surprise was evident. An unknown player had just defeated the General of the Salamander Army in a duel. And he did so with an Original Sword Skill that involved using his sheath as part of a combo.

A slow clap started from someone. Soon, others followed suit. Then the whole proving grounds was covered with uproarious applause as they yelled and cheered for the victory of their fellow Cait Sith.

It was one of the most entertaining battles the players had ever seen.

Kenshin didn't seem to know how to react. He just scratched the back of his head in embarrassment at being the center of attention.

"My, you really surprised me there," Alicia said as she approached him from his side, patting him on his rear. With the battle over, the defeated players on the field have been unfrozen. "Good job, good job!"

"A-Alicia-dono!" Kenshin cheeks tinged slightly red. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

"Meh, aside from having my pride wounded, I'm happy enough still to see a pretty good fight that you put on."

A large hand landed heavily on Kenshin's shoulder.

"Yeah, boy." General Eugene had also gotten up. "The fight you've shown me was really something else. Don't be surprised if I come after you again."

Kenshin stiffened as he saw the general's bloodthirsty smile behind his back.

"Ah! Eugene!" Alicia came up to the large man. "You cheater! Stabbing me while I was distracted! No fair!" She stamped her foot and growled at him. "And what did you mean when you said I would've lost anyway? Arrogant! Selfish! Cheater!"

Eugene backed away as the fiery wrath of the lord of the Cait Sith's descended upon him. Now that the fighting was over, he acted a lot more submissive to her. He tried to calm the raging cat down as he apologized to her.

"Sorry, Alicia," he said. "I got a bit too excited at seeing a strong opponent."

"Are you saying I'm weak?!"

"Geh! No! Not at all!"

"Alicia-dono had fought quite well," added Kenshin. "Your moves were very wonderful. Like an exotic dance, almost."

"Ah, well…" Alicia smiled at the praise, mildly blushing. "I wasn't really anything special."

Seeing that the furious lord had calmed down now, Eugene gave a relieved sigh and a grateful nod to Kenshin.

"Anyway, why are you even here, Eugene?" said Alicia, her mood back to her cheery self. "I don't think you would've gone all this way just to pick a fight with me. Did Mortimer send you here?"

"We are here by our own decision," answered Kagemune as he joined his general by his side. "We actually came here to see you personally, Alicia-sama."

"Eh?"

"Yeah," nodded Eugene. "We've been here for half a day already waiting for you. Your assistant should have told you about that already the first time you logged-on. We're only here right now because I started getting bored waiting for you. I'm wondering why you are even here in the first place."

"Is that so… Maybe she forgot… ahaha…"

The three men around her gazed at her with doubtful eyes. Their thoughts stung her heart. Such accusing looks should not be directed towards a lord, however justified they are.

"Maybe we should just call that cheap shot I took at you as even now?" said Eugene. "I can't believe you kept us waiting just so you could play around…"

"So this is the lord of the Cait Siths," frowned Kagemune. "…I'm a little disappointed."

"To even drag someone else with you…" added Kenshin. "You must put a lot of work to your subordinates. I can kind of understand how they feel."

The hits just came one after the other, sending Alicia's mental HP down to the red zone. It wasn't every day she was like this, she denied in her heart. The people loved her as their lord. Although… her subordinates have been getting a bit passive-aggressive about her compulsions as of late.

"S-So what business do you have with me anyway?" Alicia said, trying to steer the conversation away from her responsibilities. "It-It better be something really important!"

Kagemune and Eugene shared a look before answering, "We came here to stop the war..."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Another chapter done. I know feel somewhat satisfied.**

 **Read, review, and tell me if there's something wrong. I'll see if I can correct it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please inform me if there is something with the grammar and such.**

* * *

"So, care to explain what you meant more clearly about stopping the war?"

Alicia leaned beside the window of her guild office. She watched as her assistant hand out some tea and snacks to Eugene, Kagemune, and Kenshin. After their match at the arena had ended, too many spectators were there to further discuss their intentions about the war, so they decided to move to where they were now.

"I'm not sure why you went here to try and stop the war when the Slyphs are the ones you've been mainly at war with," said Alicia. "I'm sure Sakuya would have been glad to put an end to the war."

"That… I'm not so sure…" Eugene smiled painfully.

Kagemune sighed. "It was actually the first place we visited."

"Eh?"

Setting down his teacup, Eugene said, "As I've told you at the arena, we aren't here with Mortimer's express knowledge. I seriously doubt brother would have allowed us to go if he found out."

"Yeah, you did mention that." Alicia frowned. "I don't see how you intend to end the war if the Lord of the Salamanders don't even know you're trying to. But what does this have to do with Sakuya?"

"I believe… that if I can get Sakuya to just meet with my brother, we can make way into putting this war behind us." Eugene was awkwardly looking elsewhere as he said this. "Maybe even just settle for a temporary truce. However, Sakuya was not at all receptive to the idea."

"We met with her discreetly," said Kagemune tiredly. "After telling her of our idea, she kicked us out of her palace and called the guards, saying that there were intruders. We had to flee as quickly as possible from Swilvane soon after that."

"Mhmm… that doesn't sound like Sakuya at all." Alicia looked suspiciously at Eugene and Kagemune who were both strangely quiet and looking everywhere else but her. These two clearly knew something she didn't. Her instincts as a cat and a woman was ringing clearly.

"I know that the reason you want to end this war is to go back to clearing New Aincrad," said Alicia, stepping up close to the both of them. "What I don't know is why you think just a simple meeting between two lords will resolve this entire conflict." She stamped her hands down on the table between them and glared. "What aren't you two telling me?"

"It's… not really something for me to say," gulped Eugene, while Kagemune just scratched his cheek.

"Fufufu… you've got guts trying to hide things from me when you've gone all this way for my help." Alicia smiled widely at the two of them. "Maybe I should have my guild spill out all your guts if you won't spill the truth instead?"

Eugene and Kagemune paled when they saw the wicked smile of the Lord of the Cait Siths. For all their intents of ending the war peacefully, they were still Salamanders behind enemy lines. They weren't even an official envoy. Judging by the look of her, they could be sure Alicia wouldn't rest anyway until she found out what they knew.

"Okay, okay…" Eugene gave up. A death penalty at his high skill levels was pretty devastating. "It's nothing that complicated anyway. Well… it probably is, but not really anything that should have gone to war over."

Alicia waited with perked up ears, her tail swishing left and right as she listened closely to what information he was about to say.

"Sakuya and Mortimer just had a fight…" said Eugene.

"Are you done wasting my time?" Alicia was not amused. That was not a complicated matter at all. She had thought it was something a little bit more juicy, uh, interesting than that. It wasn't at all uncommon for some lords to get in a fight then drag in their respective races into a war with each other.

Although, wars like that usually never last that long. Most lords did not like the excessive stress of handling a nation at war. The one between the Salamanders and Slyphs has been strangely been dragged out for some reason or another. Alicia just thought Mortimer was just being too stubborn.

"…In real life."

"What?" Alicia gaped at Eugene. She couldn't believe what she just heard. "Wait. Sakuya knows Mortimer outside the game?"

Eugene nodded.

Alicia's mind raced with all kinds of thoughts. Sakuya had never mentioned to her even once that she had known the lord of the Salamanders in real life. She barely even spoke of him in game to her before the war had started. Although now, that was all she could hear about from her. Various complaints about Mortimer.

"They had a fight…?" Suddenly the picture began to clear up a little in her mind. "Don't tell me…"

"They started dating just a few months ago," said Eugene.

"What?!" Alicia was dumbfounded by this. "So he was the boyfriend she had been so smug about before?!" The Salamanders nodded. "The same one that she had gotten so angry with because he forgot about their date night twice in a row?!"

"Yes…" Eugene sighed tiredly. "Brother had been slammed with some projects at his work those days. He had fallen asleep as soon as he got home and left his cellphone on the kitchen table."

"Sakuya had been so furious that time," said Alicia. "She got so mad that she took on a boss class monster by herself to relieve her stress."

"She refuses to meet or have any contact at all with my brother now." Eugene looked quite tired right now compared to his time with her in the arena. "And since she had moved to a new address recently, he couldn't even find out where she is. The only place he knows he could find her is here in ALO."

"And since Sakuya is the lord of the Slyphs, it wasn't possible even here for him to meet her unless she wanted to," added Kagemune. "We were hoping that you could maybe convince her, since she wouldn't listen to us."

"So, Mortimer started this war just so he could meet with Sakuya?" Alicia asked.

Both Salamanders looked greatly troubled but nodded in unison. It seemed that they too found that this whole thing was a complete overreaction by the two lovers. It might have been romantic to some to start wars over love, but to everyone else involved, it was just one big hassle.

"Give me a break…" Alicia sat down on her chair.

To think that all of this started over a lover's quarrel. She really wanted to call Sakuya right now and voice her complaints.

That wouldn't suffice.

She could still remember the smug look on Sakuya's face when she had finally declared that she finally gotten herself a boyfriend. She had rubbed it in Alicia's face every time they had met. Even going asking her every time if she had found herself a man yet.

Sure, she was secretly glad that things when things went a little sour in Sakuya's relationship, so she stopped bringing up her lack of a boyfriend. But it didn't take long before Sakuya had kept calling her out to do duo dungeon raids to relieve some of her stress with her.

Those were not fun times.

It had almost gotten to the point where Alicia had dreaded going online in ALO just to become her friend's source to vent up her rage. It was incredibly hard to focus on fighting whenever your companion kept complaining here and there about her boyfriend.

"Grrr…" Alicia stood up with her fist shaking. "Sakuya, you should really stop dragging this out and dragging me with you."

"Uh, are you alright, Alicia-dono?" said Kenshin.

He and the others in the room could almost see the burning flames behind that small frame of hers. Her anger and discontentment had reached a high point.

"We're going!"

Alica's declaration was met with confused looks.

"… Going where?" Eugene asked hesitantly.

"To Swilvane of course!" said Alicia. "We're going to go there and make Sakuya clear up this entire mess! I don't want to be involved in their fight anymore!"

Alicia stomped angrily out of the room, dragging Kenshin by the scruff of his neck with her as he still held onto his cup and saucer. Eugene and Kagemune looked at each other before following soon afterwards.

* * *

Kenshin marveled at the sight beneath him. Trees, rivers, lakes, and various wonders of nature sprawled through the land. He contemplated how nice it would be to explore this virtual world. Just simply watching it took his breath way. A very nice experience. One that he would have thoroughly enjoyed had he not been lugged around like a sack of potatoes in the claws of a wyvern.

He probably could have gotten a better seat if he hadn't tried to escape. When Alicia had seen him inching away from the beast, she had gotten impatient and just had her wyvern grab him as they lifted off the ground. The entire journey was spent with him dangling between the claws, just looking down at the fast moving ground below them.

Flying by wyvern was much quicker when going long distances. Fairy wings could only take them so far. It was better to rely on beast transports for travelling to other farther places.

"I can see Swilvane!" shouted down Alicia at him.

Kenshin was awed by the appearance of the city. He had seen it from the ground in the morning, but it was really something else to watch it from the skies above at night.

The city lights were dazzling against the gigantic towers. Spires of varying green shades rise along a complex of corridors which connect the streets. Bursting out of each tower is a brilliant dark green light that gives the city an impression of a fantasy kingdom. It really deserved the name of Emerald Capital.

They landed in front of the Lord's Mansion behind the central tower.

The guards were familiar with Alicia since she visits them quite frequently, but they were unsure of why she was accompanied by two Salamanders. Especially since one of them was the infamous general of the Salamander forces they were at war with.

"Where's Sakuya?" Alicia demanded as soon as she got off her Wyvern.

"She's in her office, Lady Alicia," answered one of the guards. "But why are you-hey! Please wait!"

"Oro?!" Kenshin wasn't even able to gather his wits on the ground before Alicia had dragged him off again with her, Eugene and Kagemune standing by their side. The guards had protested about the Salamander's presence, but one look from Alicia sent them heading back to their posts in silence.

Kenshin strained a smile as she thought of how much Alicia resembled the women he had known in his life. It's best to stay clear when a woman was on a warpath like this.

"Alicia?" Sakuya had risen from her desk when they had entered her office unannounced. "What is going on here?" She frowned as she saw Eugene.

Alicia ignored her friend, let go of Kenshin, and began casting a spell. The surroundings of the room had suddenly darkened and moonlight began pouring out of the darkness.

"This is... **_Moonlight Mirror_** _?!"_ said Sakuya, her voice slightly panicked. "Who are you trying to contact?!"

"You should know, right?" Alicia smiled at her. "Just talk with him so we can get this war over and done with already."

The moonlight had begun to concentrate in front of Alicia, forming a liquid-gold, round, mirror. Sakuya backed away and tried to make a break for the door. She found her way was blocked by Eugene and Kagemune.

Before she could scream out for her guards, a voice from the mirror came.

"Sakuya?" On the other side of the mirror was the image of a Salamander just a few inches taller than Kenshin. He was dressed in cloth typical of that of a mage, but was quite clearly more exquisite and expensive. "Sakuya, is that you?!"

Kenshin saw Sakuya purse her lips in disdain at hearing the lord of the Salamanders. She turned around while masking her emotions with a cold look.

"Hello, Mortimer," said Sakuya, her voice quite frigid. "So I've been told you wanted to see me if I wanted to end this war. I do so hope you keep your promise this time."

"I-I… of course, yes. I just wanted to see you. The war is over for all I care." The lord of the Salamanders seemed quite pitiful compared to the cold and calculating image that Lyfa had told Kenshin of. "Please, Sakuya, I told you I was sorry!" he pleaded. "I promise to make it up to you, I swear!"

Mortimer was on his hands and knees, bowing with his head on the ground in the mirror. Sakuya's face softened at seeing this, but she immediately shook her head and it was gone. It looked like she wasn't just about to forgive him just like that.

"I… can't be with you anymore," said Sakuya, looking away.

"Why?!" Mortimer looked at her with tears in his eyes. "I love you!"

Sakuya frowned as she seemed to struggle with an explanation. Her wandering eyes landed on Kenshin.

She picked him up and held him right beside her in front of the mirror. "Because I've fallen in love with this man!"

"Huh?" Everyone in the room with her said at the same time.

"Oro?" Kenshin blinked blankly at what exactly was happening right now.

"That's right!" continued Sakuya. "This samurai has captured my heart! He's treated me far better than you ever have. He's also cute and really strong, so he's a lot better than you in every way!"

Kenshin's face darkened. He could already tell where this is going.

"You…!" The lord of the Salamanders stood up from his feet, glaring at him with hate from every fiber of his being. "How dare you!"

"N-No!" Kenshin quickly shook his hands and head in denial. "I-It's not what you think! I'm not-!""

Before he could explain, Sakuya pulled him close and kissed him on his lips to silence him. His already taxed brain went haywire as he couldn't understand why the lord of the Slyph had her soft and tender lips pressed against his.

"There you have it," smugly said Sakuya at Mortimer, leaving a stunned Kenshin standing beside her. "I have already done my responsibility in meeting with you to end the war, so I graciously bid you goodbye. Please don't ever bother me again."

"Sakuya, wait!" Mortimer could be seen reaching out to her in the mirror, but it was ended when Sakuya shattered the mirror with single cast of light magic.

There was only stunned silence left in the room.

"Sakuya…" Alicia sighed deeply, dissatisfied with what just happened.

Her friend just crossed her arms and pouted her lips, clearly not repenting what she had just done.

"Brother is not going to let this go," said Eugene. "You should know that."

"I'm not going to forgive him," said Sakuya, adamant. "He doesn't want to be with me really anyway, so he should just leave me alone."

"The war might be over, but you've gone and dragged someone else to your mess again." Alicia looked at Kenshin with pity in her eyes. "Mortimer will probably declare war on him now."

"Oro…?" Kenshin's eyes spiraled to and fro as his head still continued to steam from the kiss of the lovely Lady Sakuya. He was completely unaware that he had just gotten into a whole new problem once again.

* * *

At an inn in Swilvane, Lyfa sat with her friends. She was drinking one of the inn's specialty drinks quite heartily.

"Can you believe he did that?!" she asked Silica beside her as she loudly brought her glass down on the table. "To think that he recognized me just because of my chest!"

"Uh-huh…" Silica could only nod her head as she stared at the bouncing round balls in her eyesight. She wondered if she should pay to change her avatar even just a tiny bit. "I mean- yeah! Who would do such a thing!"

"Right?"

Silica pouted as she unconsciously rubbed her own chest after staring at Lyfa's. It just really wasn't anything much compared to her buxom friend's. She secretly thought how great it would be if someone recognized her like that for her chest.

She was crestfallen as she took the thought back. People would recognize her by her chest in a totally different manner than how she would have liked.

Lisbeth smirked at her, a knowing look on her face.

"It's been a while since we've gotten together," smiled Lisbeth. "Let's talk about something else more upbeat instead of perverted boys like your classmate or brother."

"O-Oniichan isn't perverted!" denied Lyfa.

"Sure, sure." Lisbeth didn't look entirely convinced. "How about we just talk about how great it is that the war is finally over? It's great that we're finally able to freely travel through Slyph and Salamander territories again."

"Why is that?" Silica wondered. All the players were quite sure that the war would go on for quite some time. Everyone was surprised when the Salamanders lifted their war declaration. The war was over just as quickly as it had come.

Lisbeth looked around, before gesturing for the girls to get closer. "I heard that the lords of Salamander, Cait Sith, and Slyph had gathered in a sudden and secret meeting here in Swilvane," she whispered. "It looks like they had come to an agreement to stop the war. No one really knows how or why though. There's even a rumor that General Eugene had personally arrived to escort Alicia here for it."

"Really?" said Silica, her eyes sparkling with interest.

"That's weird," said Lyfa, a hand on her chin. "I thought Lady Sakuya would have told me about something as important as this? I don't think she even told anyone else close to her about it. They were just as confused as I was when the war was declared over."

"Hehehe…" Lisbeth giggled as she stuck her chest out, smug.

Silica knew that she knew something else.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well… it's not entirely confirmed, but I heard that Lady Sakuya had surprisingly revealed her secret lover in that meeting," answered Lisbeth.

"What?!"

Their surprise and curiosity was evident as they waited on Lisbeth to further expand on her story. Nothing like a rumor about love to get them all fired up.

"That's not the only thing," continued Liz. "They said her lover is some new hotshot that had beaten General Eugene on a 1v1 fight in the arena. So you can bet that this guy is pretty strong."

"Wow," said Lyfa. "I wonder how they met? It's probably been only a few months if that's true."

"It must be nice," said Silica. She wondered what kind of person he was. "Any idea what he looks like?"

"I think they said he was a Cait Sith dressed as samurai." Lisbeth seemed to recall the details. "They said he was a short guy with red hair and an X scar on his cheek."

"Pfft!" Lyfa spat out some of her drink and choked a little bit. "Are you… are you serious?!"

"What's wrong, Lyfa?!" asked Silica as she patted her on the back.

"Grrr…" Lyfa suddenly stood up from her seat. "That idiot! Wait till I get my hands on him!"

"Hey, Lyfa! Wait up!" Lisbeth called out to her as she left the inn in a huff. "Ah, geez. What's gotten into her?"

"Let's go after her," suggested Silica.

Lisbeth nodded and they quickly followed suit.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Here is an update after a while.**

 **Read, review, and tell me if there's something wrong. I'll see if I can correct it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please inform me if there is something with the grammar and such.**

* * *

"You're being too stubborn, Sakuya."

Alicia sighed deeply at her friend who sat in her office with a defiant look. Kenshin shifted uneasily in his seat. The Salamanders had left to return back and make sure that their lord did not act too rashly after Sakuya's declaration of love for another man. Even Eugene couldn't be entirely sure of what his brother might do without him there.

"Who asked you to interfere anyway, Alicia?" said Sakuya. "Real life problems should not concern you."

"It does when your real life problems start leaking into the game," frowned Alicia. "You can't tell me that Mortimer didn't start that war just to get your attention? Even most of the Salamanders weren't too happy about it."

Sakuya was silent as she knew all too well that that was exactly the case. It would have been fine if the whole thing had only affected her personally, but entire nations of players have been dragged into their quarrel due to the war without proper motivation. A lot of the players had been excited to visit and clear the New Aincrad Dungeons, especially the Salamanders themselves. All of that had to be put on hold due to the war.

"…It's not like I planned for all this to happen." Sakuya looked forlorn as she did understand the trouble she had caused. "I just didn't want to see him for a while. To get back at him for all those times he forgot about me."

"Sakuya…" Alicia could understand that her friend was sincere. She could even understand how her boyfriend's actions had hurt her so much. After all, she was there for that period of time when she had been dragged off to accompany her friend for some stress relief.

In the meantime, Kenshin sat quietly in his seat watching the two lords talk. He was neither necessary nor really wanted for any of their discussions, really. All the same, he did not dare voice his complaints. The ladies were running a little high in their emotions, and he knew full well that his best bet of making it out of there in one piece was to shut up and roll with the tide. God knows how long it took him to learn that.

"Well, I guess there's not helping it now," sighed Alicia with a shake of her head. "If you're really sure about this, then I guess I have no choice but to help out."

"Really?" Sakuya said with a little hope. "You would be willing to help after knowing everything that's happened?"

"Of course," smiled Alicia. "We're friends after all!"

Soon, tears swelled from the Sylph lord's eyes.

"Oh, thank you, Alicia! Thank you!" She grabbed her friend into a tight hug, embracing her with all her might. "You don't know how much that means to me!"

Sakuya cried tearfully, as if all the stress from recent times are being let go in one burst. It had taken all her time to deal with the ongoing war with the Salamanders. Not to mention seeing her boyfriend after all this time, still made her realize that she still held feelings for him that just made it all the more harder for her to deny him forgiveness. It took everything she had not to forgive him as he knelt before her, asking for her to come back to him.

"Uhm…"

Sakuya sniffled as Kenshin had finally spoken.

"I know this must be a difficult time for you Sakuya-dono," said Kenshin, looking apologetic. "But I'm pretty sure Alicia-dono is also having a hard time right now."

"Eh?"

Unbeknownst to Sakuya, Alicia had been smothered deeply into the buxom Slyph's generous cleavage, unable to utter a single word of protest due to being clutched a little too tightly by their sisterly embrace.

"Oh." Sakuya loosened her grip. "Are you okay, Alicia?!"

"Nyaaa!" The Cait Sith lord gasped. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?!"

After apologizing profusely to her friend, Sakuya and Alicia must now decide on a course of action to take. At least it would be a lot easier now that the war was over. Unfortunately, another one could be declared easily enough if Mortimer were to find out the Sakuya had just lied to him about having a new lover.

Just as Eugene had said, Sakuya could confirm that Mortimer would most likely not let this matter rest. He was a timid and modest man in real life. A very hard worker and simple. However, there was a fire in him that would not stop burning until he is satisfied. It was that quality that had attracted Sakuya to him in the first place. There was no telling when he'd actually stop pursuing her.

"So we have to keep up this whole charade about you having a new lover then?" said Alicia.

"Even then I don't think he'll stop." Sakuya sat in deep thought. "He'll most likely try to find a way to get rid of him, one way or another."

"Oro?!" Kenshin despaired at that assumption.

"Yes," nodded Sakuya. "It would probably be best if you two never meet at all. At least that way, given time, he might finally give up on me…"

Alicia noticed her friend said the last part with just a hint of regret. The lord of the Slyph's feelings were still quite deep for the brigand that sank half of Alfheim into war. A very easy comparison to that of the classical tragic love stories. Although, a lot of those romances usually ended up with a lot of people dead. Sometime including one of the lovers or both.

"So, let's not allow them to meet at all then?" Alicia looked over to Kenshin. "Do you think you'll be fine not logging in for some time? At least until all of this blows over?"

"No, that won't do." Sakuya shook her head before he could respond. "Mortimer would find it suspicious why I would have left him for someone else who would be even less be by my side. It wouldn't work unless I log off as well."

"Ugh…" Alicia knew full well that such a period of inactivity cannot be ignored by the players. If Sakuya or any lord were to do so, it would be the same as relinquishing their titles as lords of their respective races. Sakuya and her were popular enough that they could probably get away with a longer time off than most lords, but would it be enough to outlast Mortimer?

Even then, taking just a few days off from their responsibilities are bad enough. Alicia could still see the tear-stained cheeks of her poor assistants who had been doing all the work while she had been… uh, monitoring her kingdom on foot. Needless to say, they didn't let her out of their sight even once until all the work that had piled up was completed.

"What if he just stayed here in Swilvane?" she suggested.

Again, Sakuya disagreed. "Since the Salamanders and the Slyphs are no longer at war with each other, it wouldn't be strange for him to come here personally to meet him. I can still deny meeting with him myself, but it's unlikely that he'll show the same restraint with trying against others."

Alicia leaned tiredly against her chair. "So he can't log off, he can't stay here? What are we supposed to do with him then?"

Kenshin could only smile painfully as the women took their time to decide his fate like some unwanted garbage that no one knew how to dispose of. It was really kind of sad, but also quite a familiar feeling to him as well.

"KEEENSHIIIN!"

The ornate doors of Sakuya's office opened with a bang. A furious blond Slyph with long blond hair strode out towards the confused Cait Sith samurai. She lifted him up by the collar of his tunic with both of her hands, shaking him vigorously all the while.

"What's the meaning of this?!" she demanded. "I heard you were Sakuya's lover?! And here I thought you were some naïve noob! Tell me the truth, you lying pervert! Answer me! What other lies did you tell her just to get to her, huh?!"

"Lyfa?!" blinked Sakuya blankly, surprised.

"Sakuya, this guy is no good!" declared Lyfa. "He's just noob that started the game not too long ago. I don't know what lies he told you, but I can tell you that he's just a pervert who judges people by their…" she turned scarlet unable to say the words. "Their outside appearance! He's immoral! An enemy of women—no, an enemy of humanity!"

"Lyyyffaaa!"

Behind her, Alicia and Sakuya could see Silica and Lisbeth being held up by the guards from bursting into the room with their friend. It would seem that they were, however, unable to react quickly enough to stop Lyfa herself. The reason being, the same situation that they found themselves earlier that day when Alicia herself acted the same way. No one wanted to deal with that.

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit?" said Lisbeth, perfectly fine with the guard holding her back. Silica, on the other hand, another guard was gently holding her up to prevent her from falling after depleting all her stamina trying to keep up.

"You girls…"

Sakuya sighed. She waved off the guards and ushered the girls to her office.

It didn't take long before she had explained exactly what the situation really was. She knew them well enough to know that they could keep a secret. Seeing as that Lyfa was too belligerent, Sakuya had thought telling the truth would make things clear up faster.

"I see…" Lyfa now sat shamefully, unable to face anyone at the moment. "…Is that how it is?"

"So Kenshin-san was just trying to help Lady Sakuya with problems with her boyfriend?" said Silica, sipping on some tea that was given to her. "How romantic!" she smiled. "It's kind of like being part of a love triangle."

"Nothing of the sort," coldly denied Sakuya. "I have no feelings of love involved anymore."

"Um-hmm…" Alicia didn't bother denying that claim, but she still looked doubtfully at her friend from the corner of her eye.

"So…" Lisbeth looked entirely amused by all of this. "You're trying to find a way so that it would be hard for both of them to meet until the Salamander lord gets bored?" Sakuya and Alicia both nodded dispiritedly. "Why not just send him on quests?"

"Quests?" asked Sakuya.

"Yeah," nodded Liz. "It would be hard to track him down if he keeps moving on quests. Some of them go into a separate space that are almost impossible to access until after the quest is done."

What Liz was referring to was some of the uninterruptable quests that transported players to different instances of the same quest. The developers had partially implemented it as a way to combat griefers that were sabotaging quests to prevent others from completing it before them, thus getting the first to finish rewards that came with the quests. It wasn't available for all quests since the developers still firmly believed that unexpected actions by players should still be the norm, but there were plenty enough of such quests that it would make it hard to follow a player around continuously without losing their trail. It didn't help that some of them ended with random teleports at the end of the quest.

"That's a good idea," agreed Sakuya, her finger tapping on her soft lips while remembering some of the quests. "It's not completely foolproof, but it should be enough to throw Mortimer off the trail. If you avoid the popular quests and the major settlements, it would be hard to keep track of someone doing those quests. Mortimer would most likely have his spies and his troops waiting in most of the cities and towns."

"Except players can only resurrect in cities or towns when they die, unless they had someone do that for them on the spot," said Alicia. "As long as he doesn't die, then I think it'll be fine."

"That's true." Sakuya stood up and held Lyfa firmly on her shoulders. "Can I count on you, Lyfa-chan?"

"Eh?" Lyfa was face with the overwhelming look of dependence her lord was giving her. She could almost see the words "You're my only hope" in those eyes that sparkled with such expectations. "Y-Yes!"

"How wonderful!" Sakuya beamed a relieved smile at her. You could tell a great weight had fallen off her shoulders. Unfortunately, that same weight seemed to have now transferred over to someone else.

Lyfa quietly moaned her fate as she walked out of the Slyph lord's office. Silica was at her side, trying to cheer her up while Lisbeth was beside them giving her a pat on the back.

"Uhm…" Kenshin scratched his head from behind them, not sure what exactly he had done wrong. "I am sorry for troubling you."

He still apologized though.

"It's not your fault, Kenshin-san," said Silica, giving him an encouraging smile. "Besides, I think it's great to help out Lady Sakuya with her love troubles."

"Yeah," Liz smirked. "I can't believe we get to go around doing quests with the full support of the Slyphs! Hehe! I get to work on raw materials that would usually be hard to find!"

The Slyph lord had guaranteed that they were given ample money and supplies, all provided by the ample treasuries of the Slyphs. The rare weapons and armor are excluded, but most of them have high tier gear that they wouldn't have bothered with those anyway. There was still a lot to say when given an almost unlimited access to national coffer. It certainly did pay well to go on quests given by a lord.

"I'm glad both of you are happy at least," said Lyfa gloomily. "If I knew this was all just a lie, then I wouldn't have come here just to embarrass myself in front of Sakuya."

"Nyahaha!" Alicia skipped just ahead of them. "It's fine, Lyfa-chan. You don't have to be sorry about it. In fact, if it weren't for you coming here, it would probably have taken us longer to come up with a solution."

Apparently, the Cait Sith lord will be joining them in their grand adventures. This was in order to increase the chances of success of the plan. Players would find it difficult to attack a lord. Mortimer and his Salamanders would have a harder time getting to Kenshin with her in the way. At least, that was what she had explained to them. In truth, she just wanted to play around without interruption. Seeing as this was a favor to Sakuya, the Slyph lord had more than willingly accepted the responsibility of managing the Cait Siths along with her own people while she was away.

"Fufu…" Alicia was all smiles as she spun care freely through the hallway. "Hey, hey! Where do you guys think we should go first? I heard the Anemone quest by the Flowering Lake was especially nice this time after the last update. Oh! How about we go through the Shimmering Isles to do the Sparkling Stones quest?!"

"I'm sorry, Alicia-dono, but it's getting kind of late, and I still have school tomorrow," said Kenshin.

"Oh yeah," agreed Liz, checking the time on her menu. "I forgot it was already kind of late even before we got here."

"I still need to pack my lunch for tomorrow early too," added Silica.

"Aw fuh!" Alicia pouted. "You kids are too serious about school! Whatever happened to kids playing too much video games? Aren't you all excited to go on quests?"

Unlike Alicia, the others had never really been short on time when it came to questing. It's not like they were lords that needed to work before they could play the game after all.

"Sorry, Alicia-san," said Lyfa, smiling a little bit at least at having popping someone's bubble aside from her own. "We'll start on them after we get back from school."

"I guess I'll head for bed now too," said Alicia, bummed out. "But we're going on the very first quest I think of when you guys log back in! I won't allow any of you to say no! Okay, c'ya guys back here! Don't skip out!"

With a quick pop of her menu, she was the first one to log-off before anyone could even bother saying goodbye. She kind of forgot, what with all the problems they had encountered, but she too had an early start at work tomorrow.

"Geez," she said as she took off the amusphere from her head. "Students today are so serious about school all the time. Well, I guess it's a lot easier for me to teach kids like them, so I can't really complain."

Having recently graduated from college, it would her first time on the job. She was glad that she'd at least have some time to sleep before she starts tomorrow. She looked over her bedside table at the pamphlet and folder provided to her by her workplace.

"I wonder if any of my students there play ALO?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This one is a little shorter than the usual and has less Kenshin, but the next chapter should feature him a lot more.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please inform me if there is something with the grammar and such.**

* * *

"Good luck, Kirigaya-san!"

"Show the freshmen just how good our kendo club is!"

Showered by the encouragement of her classmates, Suguha held her shinai (bamboo sword) faced against her fellow kendo club member. They were currently holding a demonstration to encourage new applicants for their club. Being one of the best kendo users in the club and having gone to the nationals to boot, Suguha had been asked to put on a show for the freshmen.

After a series of exchanges with their shinai that lasted several minutes, her opponent bowed her head in surrender. As expected of her, even though she had gone easy on her fellow club member, she had managed to rack up significantly more points.

"Well done, Kirigaya!" Her captain, Minomori Aoi patted her on her shoulders whilst shoving a bottle of water into her hands. She always had a smile on her face and was popular in the whole school for being easy to approach and befriend. "I bet you we get more applicants this year. All the students looked pretty impressed with your performance."

"That's great, Captain!" smiled Suguha.

The seniors are currently the majority of the club members. It would be quite a problem if there were not enough new members for the club.

"I couldn't help but notice that the boys were quiet into it," whispered her Captain. "Maybe this year you'll get a good chance to catch a boyfriend this time."

"Awawa… C-Captain!" Suguha's face was red from embarrassment.

"You know it's nice and all that you're so focused on practice, but shouldn't you be worried about finding a man soon?" continued Aoi. "It would be a shame to lose out on your love life, you know? Ah, looks like I'm needed." Another student was waving their direction with papers in his hands. "Take care of things here while I finish up some paperwork. I'll be done in a jiff."

Glad to be free of the awkward topic of her love life, Suguha gave a relieved sigh. Whilst a good-natured person at most times, her captain could be a bit nosy when it comes to romance of others. This can be seen by the amount of shoujo manga she always kept trying to push on to her to serve as tips for acquiring a boyfriend.

Toweling off to the side, Suguha watched as the rest of her fellow club members moved to continue the demonstrations. Her gaze swept through the numerous students, mostly freshmen, who were looking to join a club. A familiar face appeared in her sight.

"Genbei…?" she murmured to herself, noticing the boy with a pensive smile as he looked at the practicing kendo users. He was near the far edge of the school grounds where the demonstration was being held. It seemed like he was content to just watch from the sidelines.

Curious, Suguha went and approached him.

"Is Genbei-san interested in joining the kendo club?" The boy blinked blankly at her question, as he seemed to have just now noticed her next to him.

"K-Kirigaya-san?!" Genbei scurried back a bit in surprise.

Suguha frowned at him. "You don't have to act so scared. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. Or is it you think I'm really that scary?"

"Uh…" Kenshin quickly began to shake his head as soon as she glared at him. "N-No! Not at all! Kirigaya-san just really surprised me just now!"

"Really?" asked Suguha, not convinced at all. She sighed, never minding it. "It looked like you were pretty engrossed in the demonstrations. Are you by chance interested in joining our club?"

Kenshin slowly went back to his earlier position, seemingly satisfied that he won't get attacked. "I'm afraid that kendo isn't really my style," he said.

"You don't practice kendo?" she asked curiously. After seeing his sword skills in ALO, it was hard not to be a little surprised. Although not many of the strongest players in the game need to be familiar with real life martial skills, Suguha could still tell the signs of practiced ease of his sword movements in the game.

"No." Kenshin shook his head. "While I may have some experience with a bit of kendo from a long time ago, it's not really the kind of kendo they use in these modern times."

That was curious. Whilst it's unsurprising to know that he at least did have some experience with it, she found it odd by what he meant by modern times. It could be that he practiced some unorthodox style from some obscure dojo when he was younger.

"Are you sure you're not interested in joining?" insisted Suguha. "Since you just transferred here, you shouldn't have joined any clubs yet, right?"

"I'm part of the go-home club," smiled Genbei proudly.

"Don't be part of such a worthless club!" Suguha couldn't help herself and began to squeeze his cheeks like mochi. "Have at least some pride in telling me you've joined an actual club before refusing!"

"I'm sowwwyy…"

"Kirigaya? What are you doing?"

"C-Captain!" Suguha found herself being watched by Aoi from behind. "You're back!"

"Yup," nodded Aoi. "I told you I wouldn't take long." Her gaze went between Suguha and Genbei. She grinned in earnest. "It looks like I didn't have to worry about you after all. Really, you work so quickly, Kirigaya. You could have told me you already had one."

"Eh?" Suguha realized that there was a misunderstanding. "You've got it all wrong! Genbei is just a classmate of mine who I thought might be interested in joining the club."

"Is that so?" mused Aoi. She looked closely at him. "That's pretty interesting in itself for Kirigaya to think someone would be good for the club. You must be quite good. How about it? Interested in a bit of a spar with me?"

"Thank you, but I'm rather content with just watching others practice," said Genbei as he rubbed his sore cheeks.

"That's really too bad," sighed Suguha. "You're probably a lot more talented than my brother with kendo."

"You sure you don't want to join?" Aoi moved closer to his ear and whispered, "You could spend a lot more time with Kirigaya, you know? She usually spends the most time in the club dojo after school. It wouldn't be too uncommon to find yourself alone with her during that time."

"Captain!" protested Suguha. "What weird things are you saying now?!"

"Nothing, nothing!" smiled Aoi at her. "Anyway, I need you to come with me for now, Kirigaya. I'd like to introduce you to our new club advisor since Tanabe-sensei had to retire due to his chronic illness. I've only just met her a few minutes ago myself."

Suguha gazed suspiciously at her, but nodded.

"You can come join us anytime if you change your mind, Genbei-kun," said Aoi as she waved goodbye along with Suguha.

Suguha and Aoi soon arrived at the faculty office. Inside, a single woman sat at one of the many cubicles at the far end near the windows. She was hunched down, reading papers on her table before noticing the two's arrival.

"I'm glad you returned so quickly, Minomori-san," greeted the woman with a small smile of her lips. Her hair that went just past her shoulders swayed as she turned her seat to face them. "And you must be Kirigaya-san. I've heard much about you from the staff and your captain. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Akiyama Rena. I'll be your new club advisor for the rest of the year."

"Y-You too, sensei," bowed Suguha after shortly blanking at the very professional appearance of her new teacher. Her demeanor and outfit was just what you would expect from a good and proper woman expected of her position, not a single crease on her suit or a hair out of place. "We'll be in your care."

* * *

"Ugh…"

Akiyama Rena sighed tiredly after sprawling lazily on the floor of her studio apartment. She had haphazardly removed her pants and unbuttoned her tight blazer and shirt, not bothering with how sloppy she looked, then stretching her arms high. She yawned and scratched her head, disheveling her tidied up hair.

"First day on the job and I already feel like it's going to be a long year for me." She took out a can of beer from the fridge and took a big gulp. "Fuwaah! It's good to be home after a hard day's work!"

Her attitude and demeanor was completely different once she was done with work. Fresh out of college, she had crafted and honed her professional work personality for her job. Unfortunately, it was quite mentally taxing on her as time went on.

The lax smile on her face disappeared as she recalled the events from earlier. She had been saddled with more than the normal amount of work for one just starting her career.

"I can't believe I have to do the work of club advisor too," she moaned. "Give me a break. I don't even know much about kendo. Heck, I wasn't even part of any clubs besides the go-home club back in high school!"

She took another sip of her beer, sitting down with her elbow on her kitchen table and a hand on her cheek, contemplating about it. Her mind wandered to her two students who had introduced themselves to her.

"Hmm… high school kids sure do grow up fast now," she said as she gazed at her chest, giving them a light squeeze. "I'm only two cup sizes smaller than her, but still! Even Sakuya's weren't that big back then. Well, it's not like I would envy her. She always complains a lot about back pain, so I guess I'm happy enough where I am. "

Rena prepared to heat up dinner that she bought from the convenience store on the way home. As expected of someone who would laze around if there was no one to watch her, this woman only went for the most convenient ways of getting things done. Thus, it had been quite some time since she had last had a properly home cooked meal.

If left on her own, she would most likely stay in her room all day wearing nothing but her underwear whilst playing video games. Since she couldn't really bother with cooking for herself, she still had to remember to buy food from the store.

"Well, I guess it's about time for me to log-in," she said after checking her wall clock.

After cleaning up after her meal, she went to her bed and took the amusphere device on the side. Carefully, she placed it on her head and laid down on the bed.

"I wonder if he likes them big or small?" she said right before the device started.

* * *

"Too slow!"

Kenshin could only smile painfully as Alicia glared at him. Beside her was Lyfa and the rest of the girls, watching with amusement at him being made to kneel on the ground in seiza. More than a few people passing by were also grinning at seeing the display.

They were at the fountain plaza of Swilvane close to the marketplace. It was the place they had designated to meet up today.

"I'm sorry, Alicia-dono," apologized Kenshin once again. "I had to run to the store because we ran out of eggs, so it took me quite a bit longer before I finished cooking dinner."

"Oh? You cook for yourself?" asked Liz.

"I usually cook for my family, but my mother does help at times," said Kenshin bashfully.

"That's really quite admirable," said Silica. "There aren't a lot of guys in our school that could cook."

"Even more than a few girls aren't able to cook rice for themselves nowadays," giggled Lyfa.

"W-Well, I guess I'll let you off for today," mumbled Alicia before turning away. "But you better not be late next time!"

Kenshin sighed in relief. He thought for sure that Cait Sith lord would berate him much longer. He wondered why she let him off quite easily today. He thought that maybe she was a lot more understanding than he thought she was.

It really had not occurred to him or the others that the reason Alicia was the first to arrive was simply because of her easygoing lifestyle at home that heavily relied on microwaveable goods. Aside from the invention of immersive VR games, she considers that microwaveable goods in a convenience store to be one of Japan's greatest achievements.

"So how are we going to decide what quest to take on?" asked Liz.

"Well, we should probably find a long quest that isn't too popular," suggest Lyfa. "After all, our main goal is to keep Kenshin from the Salamander Lord's eyes. It's enough if we just pick one that's relatively safe."

"What kind of talk is this?!" said Alicia, clearly displeased somehow. "We are players in a world of fantasy and magic! We play this game to enjoy ourselves, not to play it safe!" She stood with hands on her hips. "If we are going to do a quest, then we might as well do a fun one!"

"I… kind of agree," said Silica. "It'd be nice to go an exciting quest with everyone."

"Well, I won't say no to a big quest." Liz beamed happily. "The reward should be better anyways. If we're going to do it, then we might as well go all out, right?"

"Aren't you guys getting a little too excited for this?" sighed Lyfa. "We're supposed to keep an eye on this samurai here."

"I don't really mind, Lyfa-san." Kenshin smiled. "Everyone was kind enough to offer their help."

"That's not—"

"It's settled then!" declared Alicia with a bright smile. "I already chose a quest anyway before any of you got here, so we'll be doing that. I guarantee you it's going to be quite entertaining!"

Lyfa sighed as everyone else appeared to be in high spirits.

"So what sort of quest is it?" asked Liz.

"Hehehe!" Alicia crossed her arms over her chest and proudly said, "It's a dragon slaying quest!"

There was silence, as no one could seem to process the sudden announcement. A few moments later, there was a resounding amount surprise amongst their party.

"…What? WHAT?!" Lyfa was the loudest in voicing out her utter disbelief. "A dragon slaying quest?!"

"Not just a simple dragon too." Alicia continued to smile, seemingly ignoring the uncertainty amongst the faces of her party. "We're going to be hunting a Grand dragon! I've already made arrangements, so we can head on out."

"A-A Grand… dragon?" Liz's face was twitching sporadically. "Isn't that a raid boss? I think I remember the top Salamander guild had lost to it four times before they managed to kill it."

There were numerous species of wyverns and dragons in ALO, some even being tameable pets. However, most of the larger dragons are wild monsters that are completely hostile. Some of the biggest ones among those even take territories in some parts of the world. The Grand dragons are said to be the strongest species of those.

Whilst the rewards for killing one is nothing short of a fortune for players, the risks involved usually deter anyone from hunting them. This is usually due to the cost of repairs, lost items and experience, along with the severe penalty of losing one's life in a Grand dragon's territory. It is simply not profitable at all to hunt one.

Most who undergo the raid quest are in it for the prestige and honor of killing one. So far, there had been less than a handful of raid guilds that had met with success. And that is after they've failed numerous times.

"Actually, they got wiped out six times," corrected Alicia.

"Six… times? Silica murmured, looking as if she was about to feint.

"You can't be serious, Alicia-san," said Lyfa. "I know the Cait Sith guild have experience with raid quests and all, but isn't it still a bit too much? And aren't we supposed to keep a low profile? Having that many people would certainly attract attention."

"What are you talking about?" said Alicia. "Mortimer is bound to notice my guild moving, so we'll just be doing this by ourselves."

"Alicia-dono…" Kenshin felt light-headed at the prospect of facing a dragon. He can still remember watching that dragon named smog or something from a movie. "I think you might be severely overestimating our capabilities."

"You don't have to be so scared." Alicia laughed at them. "It's not like we'll be fighting an adult one. The request is to take down a lone juvenile Grand dragon that had just recently made its nest near the Myrtle Spring Woods."

"A juvenile one?" asked Liz.

"Yeah," nodded Alicia. "They're only about the same size as the largest of the wyverns we ride, although there combat ability is still quite high. The developers had just recently added juvenile versions of large monsters into the game. They are a lot more easier to deal with. Although they have lower rewards than their full-fledged versions, they still have a very low chance of dropping the same rare items."

"Oh?" Liz was clearly interested by this. "Even the cheapest item drop from a Grand dragon is considered to be top tier. If we could even just get one…"

"Still… will we really be fine with just us?" said Lyfa uneasily.

"We can't really take more people even if we wanted to though," admitted Alicia. "The quest can only be done with a party of seven. It's one of the requirements for accepting it."

"A party of seven?" Silica tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't there only five of us?"

"I've already invited two others to accompany us," grinned Alicia. "They're already at the location where we begin the quest. We should probably get going and meet up. We're already late enough as it is."

"Are they guild mates of yours, Alicia-san?" asked Lyfa.

"You'll see."

* * *

Myrtle Spring Woods is a forest near the borders of the Cait Sith and Puca zones. While the monsters here are not as populous as that of the Ancient Forest, they are most certainly very strong. Although dangerous, players are usually attracted to the many scattered springs hidden within its deep woods. The reason being that rare plants and other ingredients could be usually found near these glistening pools of water. There are even rare monsters and creatures that frequent its waters for a drink, further increasing its appeal.

This is what makes it somewhat frightening.

The forest itself is not that dark, especially with some of the trees holding fruit lamps that bathe the place with a glow of lights. That is because danger will not hide itself in the dark here. It had no need to. Like a venus fly trap, it relies on the greed and desires of its preys to lure them in. Many dangerous monsters reside within its woods.

"Uwaaah…"

Lyfa could see Kenshin's terrified look from her explanation. He had asked her to explain to him about the place they were going to. She only gave him the general description of Myrtle Spring Woods that anyone could look up online.

"I heard that the woods is also a place where rumored ghost type monsters may appear," she said quietly, secretly pleased with herself at seeing the look on the samurai's face. "Maybe we'll get to see one."

"Noooo…"

"Eh?" Lyfa just now noticed that Silica was beside Kenshin, looking like she was about to start crying herself. "I-It was just a joke, Silica. There are definitely no ghosts there!"

"Stop acting so scared," laughed Alicia. She was in front of them leading the way, seemingly pleasantly pleased at the start of a good quest. "There are only high level monsters there. At worse, we might encounter one or two boss class ones, so there shouldn't be anything else like ghosts to worry about."

"I believe that in itself is very much good reason to be worried," said a pale Kenshin, whilst Silica nodded furiously in agreement behind him.

"Besides, everyone knows ghosts aren't real," said Alicia without care. "I mean, I've never met someone who's actually seen one before."

"Didn't Kirito said he once saw a ghost though?" said Liz absentmindedly as they trekked through the path to the forest entrance. "If I remember correctly, even Asuna said she saw the same thing."

"Oh yeah." Lyfa could remember the time her brother had told her of some of her adventures in SAO. "They said it was the ghost of a woman that had died in SAO."

Silica whimpered weakly.

"O-Of course it must have just been some kind of illusion or something," quickly added Lyfa. "And that all happened in SAO. There shouldn't be any kind of that stuff here in ALO."

"Hoho?" Liz smirked behind at them. "Are you so sure of that?"

Lyfa felt uneasy at that. "It's not like anyone died in ALO…"

Aside from the incident with the former developers of ALO, there were no further problems with players dying in real life. Strict measures had been made by the government to ensure that there could never be another SAO problem like before for all new VR devices.

"How do you think they made New Aincrad?"

When the new developers had taken over ALO, New Aincrad was added to the game. Lyfa hadn't actually heard the specifics on how they were able to do so.

"They built it out of the remaining data and copies of the original Aincrad from the SAO incident," answered Liz. "That's why it's an almost perfect recreation of that place. There had even been some marks that players had left that had been transferred over. Some player made creations and other signs from that time are still around."

"That means…" Lyfa blanched as the thought hit her.

"It might be possible that the ghosts of those players may have transferred over as well," Liz said with a teasing smile at her.

"D-Don't joke around like that!" said Lyfa nervously. "Ghosts aren't real anyway, right, Alicia-san?"

She looked over to see that the Cait Sith lord had stopped. They had arrived at the forest entrance, the glow of the large overhead lanterns hanging from the top of the trees glowed just enough to get rid of the darkness. However, the light of the lanterns and swaying of the winds seemed to cause the shadows to dance eerily on their surroundings.

"O-Of course! T-There aren't any ghosts!" her voice quavered quite badly. "No, no, no ghosts! Nyahaha!"

It was apparent to everyone that the story had taken a deep toll on Alicia's state of mind.

"Could it be that Alicia-dono is also afraid?" chuckled Kenshin.

"As if! I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"

Just then, something rustled nearby from within the forest entrance, causing Alicia to jump back in fright. She wasn't the only one, as Lyfa herself and Silica began to use Kenshin as a human shield. Only Kenshin and Liz remained somewhat calm.

The silhouette of a hooded figure appeared from within the shadows. It moved slowly towards them, almost gliding.

"It's here! Nyaaaaa!" loudly declared Alicia in slight hysteria. "A ghost! A ghost has appeared!"

"A ghost?"

The hooded figure stepped into the light and pulled the hood down. A Cait Sith girl with blond hair, yellow-green eyes, and drawn whiskers on her face stood in front of them. She had a puzzled look on her face after seeing them so scared.

"Argo?!" said Liz. She broke out into a wide smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Of course I'm here," Argo said with a smile back. "I'm the one who told Alicia-sama of the quest in the first place. I'll be taking part as well, if you guys don't mind. Looking forward to questing with you all!"

"I was the one who came to her for a good quest," said Alicia. She seemed to have finally calmed down after seeing that there really was no ghost at all. "She'll be joining our party until we finish it."

"Really?" said Liz. "So what are you getting out of it, Argo? I know you're not one to do something without anything in return. To even join us on a quest…"

Lyfa remembered what her brother told her of Argo. She was an SAO survivor like him. She was a business first kind of person that dealt with information. Even after joining ALO, it would seem she had not changed much from how she had played back then. She always sold information at peak prices, but one could be sure that the information would be accurate and worth the price.

"Well, it's not like I'm after any of the rewards from the quest, you know?" said Argo coyly. She walked over and looked Kenshin up and down. "Huh. So you're supposed to be the one who defeated General Eugene? You're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be."

"Oro?" Kenshin tilted his head.

"You told her about Kenshin?!" Lyfa said in disbelief. "We are supposed to be on a secret mission! Sakuya even told us to avoid other players on our quest if we can."

"Secret mission?" A glittering spark of interest appeared in Argo's eyes. "Really now? What kind of mission would need you to go on a quest? I haven't heard anything about that."

Lyfa looked confusedly at Alicia, who could only hold her temple and shake her head in exasperation.

"As payment for finding me an interesting quest to do, Argo just wanted to ask me about the details of the one who beat Eugene," she said. "Since the quest she gave me required seven people, I had told her she could join us if she wanted to see him for herself. I never mentioned anything else."

"Eh?" Lyfa saw that Argo was now eyeing her and the rest with a particularly keen interest. It looked like she was the one who blew the lid off their supposed secret plans.

"So…" smiled Argo with a seemingly pleasant smile. "What's all this about a secret mission? Not only Alicia-sama but even the lord of Slyphs is involved somehow. This smells like something big. Won't you tell me more?"

Before anything else could be said, a dangerous growl suddenly came from the forest, attracting everyone's attention. From the dark, yellow eyes watched them. Stepping into the light, large black wolves showed themselves, snarling and growling, their teeth bared.

"Black Wolves?!" Lyfa recognized them immediately.

The wolves charged at them recklessly.

Lyfa immediately sent a wind cutter spell, slicing two of them. Everyone else was quick to react and met the oncoming wolves with their own magic and weapons.

The battle didn't last long, as there weren't very many of them. It was still difficult due to the way Black Wolves could blend in so well with the shadows.

"Why are Black Wolves moving outside of the woods?!" said Lyfa. She knew fully well that their territory was deep within the forest. There had been no known times where they have ever left it.

Somewhere from above them, arrows came and struck the few remaining wolves, finally ending the last of them.

Jumping down from a branch of a tree, a Cait Sith with blue hair slung her bow over her back. She wore a green coat with white chest armor, a black choker and a belted quiver across her shoulders.

"I believe I may be able to help answer that question," she said.

Lyfa couldn't help but be surprised by the appearance of someone else they knew.

"Sinon?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm going to be a bit more busier this year, so you expect more delays in between chapter updates for all my stories. If I was rich I could just write all day, but such is life.**

 **As always, please read and review. Tell me if you see any problems with grammar and such.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Please notify me if there are any problems with grammar and such.**

* * *

"Been a few days since we last saw each other," smiled Sinon.

"Meet the last member of our dragon-slaying party!" proudly declared Alicia.

All the girls knew Sinon's ability with the bow, so they felt a lot better about their chances on this quest now. Being that they were hunting a dragon, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that its ability to fly would give them some trouble. Having a focused ranged attacker would greatly benefit their party.

The archer approached them, stopping to give each of the girls a hug. She only gave Kenshin a cursory glance since he was the only one she didn't really know.

"So why did those wolves leave their designated zones?" asked Silica.

"It's because they were driven out," answered Sinon. "It looks like the cause was the juvenile Grand Dragon that we're hunting. It seems to be taking a section of the forest and making it its territory. There are more monsters leaving in every direction because of it."

"Seriously?" said Liz. "What about the boss class monsters?"

It wasn't a joke when Alicia had said that they might encounter a boss class monster or two. There were some roaming the areas at different parts. They dropped particularly rare materials and items, but it was hard for people to farm them specifically due to their wandering nature. There had even been a time when a party had found their intended target but another boss class monster appeared as well.

"They were killed by the dragon," said Sinon seriously. "I think there were a few that had managed to get away, though. It's a good thing that they didn't head this way."

"It killed the other boss monsters too?" asked Lyfa. She turned to Alicia. "I know it's still a Grand Dragon, but isn't it still a little too strong even for a juvenile one?"

"It's probably just how it was scripted to be," said Alicia without a care. "You know, like how some quests sometimes release restrictions and predetermined paths for them. The quest probably called for it so that it turns out to be something like how Grand Dragons start out. After all, it's in the lore that that's how Grand Dragons took their territories."

"So it's probably not because it was that strong to defeat all those other monsters," nodded Argo. "That's not really that uncommon for special dev-designed quests. They force the interactions for the story of the quest."

"GGO had the same type of quests," added Sinon. "Stronger enemies that usually inhabited a location would get removed due to some circumstances to make way for quests that involved that area."

"GGO?" Kenshin's head tilted in question.

"It's the other VRMMO," helpfully answered Silica. "Gun Gale Online. It's a modern shooter VRMMO."

"You don't know about it?" said Sinon, looking at him incredulously. "It could be said to be the second most popular VRMMO after ALO. How can you play any VRMMO and not know about it?"

"Really?" said Kenshin, sounding impressed. "Technology sure is amazing. They have so many worlds that people can just go to."

"He's only recently started playing," sighed Lyfa at the questioning looks from Argo and Sinon.

"What?! Seriously?! You weren't kidding when you called him a noob?!" said Alicia. Her reaction to that was a lot more understandable because she had seen first thing what he was capable of. She had indeed thought he was a noob when she first met him, though.

"You brought someone new on a dragon slaying quest?" said Sinon. "Isn't that too much. I mean, even a party of veterans have difficulty fighting a regular one."

"But you beat Eugene!" protested Alicia. "There's no way you just started playing!"

"I'm… just a little bit more experienced with wielding a sword," said Kenshin in embarrassment.

"It's hard to imagine that a noob would be able to beat that battle-maniac general of the Salamanders," said Argo curiously. She eyed Kenshin carefully. "A smurf maybe? No. You don't look like any of the types I know of. Still, to beat Eugene you must be experienced with fighting. Perhaps an old martial artist or something?"

Kenshin's back began to sweat at how close the girl was to guessing his true nature.

"He's about the same age as me," answered Lyfa, saving him from further inspection by Argo. "He told me he used to practice a very unorthodox style of kendo, so it's not like your completely off the mark."

"The same age as you?" said Argo. "Wait, how do you know that?"

"He's her new classmate apparently," said Liz.

"Oho?" Argo smirked. "So same age as Lyfa-chan, huh? Same school, too. Interesting."

Lyfa frowned. She didn't like that look on Argo's face. Somehow, she understood why her brother always seemed so uneasy when talking about her.

"Well, it doesn't really change things either way," sighed Alicia. "I guess there are geniuses in every field out there. Geez. I thought Kirito-boy was already such a cheat."

"I… really don't think you could call someone like me a genius." Kenshin bashfully scratched his cheek.

Alicia jumped on his back and began pinching his cheeks. "The fact that you actually seem to truly believe that really pisses me off! How many people do you think could actually pull off what you did against Eugene, huh?! Geniuses like you deserve to feel the pain of us regular people! Here and here and have some of more of this!"

"Awawawawawa!" Kenshin flailed wildly as the Cait Sith Lord attacked his cheeks with such ferocity.

"Anyway," said Liz. "Since the forest has been cleared, shouldn't that mean that we have an open path to the dragon? This might not be so hard as I thought it'd be."

"Liz!" said Silica. "You're going to jinx us!"

"She's right though," agreed Sinon. "If we had to go through the woods as it normally was, I doubt we could finish this quest with just this many players. Still, it won't be easy fighting a Grand Dragon, even if it is a juvenile one."

"It'll be fine." Alicia jumped down from Kenshin and waved off their concern. The samurai was crouching on the ground massaging his sore cheeks pitifully. "The devs wouldn't put a quest in if it was impossible to complete it. And with this party, I doubt we'll have that much of a hard time!"

She laughed proudly.

"Well… I guess that's true," nodded Lyfa. Everyone else seemed to agree. Alicia was the most experienced ALO player in their party after all. She'd completed more quests than even Eugene.

* * *

"Oh! Look! Look! That tree looks really pretty! I can't believe it's leaves are made of silver!"

Silica seemed to be enjoying herself on this quest of theirs. She and her familiar Pina were running all over the place with sparkling eyes of curiosity at the scenery around them.

"Wow! This flower is so beautiful…"

She was about to reach out and touch the vividly colored violet petals of a large flower when Liz had suddenly yanked her back from her collar.

"Really, Silica," sighed Liz, "You never learn, do you?"

Liz picked up a rock and tossed it lightly at the flower. Large spiked roots around it rose from underneath the earth and clamped towards the center. Anything that would have stood close to the flower would have been crushed and pierced by the strong spiky roots.

"Hiiiiii!" yelped Silica.

"Even without the monsters around, Myrtle Spring Woods is still notorious for its dangerous environment," said Liz. "A lot of the plant life here are super dangerous, you know?"

"Right you are," said Argo. "Players who visit this place the first time tend to die to them rather than to monsters. A good bit of info is that the lovelier it looks, the more deadly it is. So, I'd tell you to watch where you step on here."

Silica's earlier enthusiasm deflated quite instantly at that. She shivered in fright as everything she once thought beautiful had now caused her to fear for her life.

"Well, not everything here is quite so dangerous," smiled Lyfa. She picked a rough green bud from a withered looking plant on the side of their path. She dropped it into Silica's palm and gave it a light blow of her breath.

"Uwaah!" Silica was amazed as the rough bud in her palm had suddenly opened up into a pure, white and soft petals into the shape of a swan. "Amazing!"

"This place has a nice side to it too," said Lyfa.

"Still, one should really be cautious here." Sinon shook her head as she watched Alicia try to free Kenshin from the trunk of a tree. Large vines had bounded the samurai after he tried to pick a fruit from it. He could neither move nor speak as the vines had tightly wrapped him like a mummy.

"Didn't I just tell you not to touch it?!" complained Alicia as she swiped the vines off with her claws.

"But… it looked so good," cried Kenshin after he stumbled free to the ground. "I still remember eating fresh fruits back when I used to travel… I never got attacked by them before."

"Are you some kind of poor homeless kid?!" complained Alicia. "And didn't you say you made dinner before you logged on? Don't go picking out things at random places and eating them!"

As the party made their way through the forest, they talked more on how to complete their current quest.

"So the dragon's nest is located at the center of the forest?" asked Lyfa.

"Right," nodded Argo. "Or that's the most likely place it should be based off the other dragon quests that I gathered info on. Given that adult Grand Dragons tend to have their nests at the center of their territory, it would likely be the same with this one as well."

"The center of the forest…" mumbled Lyfa. "Isn't that…?!"

"Yeah," said Argo, "It should be at the Crystal Moon Pool. No doubt it would be attracted to it the same way as the other monsters had been."

"Crystal Moon Pool?" asked Silica. "I don't think I've heard of that place before."

"It's a really hard place to get to," answered Liz. "On top of it being at the center of the forest, the monsters that gather there are on a whole different level than the outer parts of the forest. It's not really a place many players have reached before. Not that players have any reason to go there as well."

"What do you mean?" said Silica.

"It's not really a location that would pop up in a quest," explained Sinon. "The player who have seen it had only managed to do so because they specialized in stealth skills. Even then, more than half of those who tried were discovered and summarily destroyed by the monsters there."

"Yup," nodded Alicia. "It's more of a gathering and resting spot for boss class monsters. The pool there seem to have a rejuvenating effect for them. I suppose if you had a quest or really need to find a specific boss monster drop you could go there for it, but there is no way you'd get out alive trying to complete it. Even several raid groups wouldn't win with the number of boss class monsters there."

"A-And we're going all by ourselves there?" nervously asked Silica.

"The only one there right now should be the juvenile Grand Dragon," pointed out Argo. "So we don't have to worry so much about that." She gave a wide grin. "The screenshots taken by the players there looked really incredibly, you know? It'd be nice to see it for ourselves in person."

Shimmering pools of water soon began to appear as the party made its way deeper into the forest. The pools themselves seemed to radiate a glow that basked the forest in a warm light. The smattering of lanterns on the branches only enhanced the calm scenery.

"I could see why players would want to come here," said Liz in awe of it all. "It's a pretty nice place all in all."

"We shouldn't be far now," said Argo. "The Crystal Moon Pool should be the largest one. It's located in a wide open clearing, so it would make fighting easier. Unfortunately, that also means the dragon has an advantage there over us."

Everyone tensed as they knew well that fighting a dragon in open terrain is very difficult. While they can also fly, a dragon can be considered the lord of the skies. Their large, powerful wings can send gusts of wind that can knock down players from the skies if they got too close to it. Not to mention a dragon's breath can utterly decimate opponents.

"W-We'll be fine, right?" asked Silica.

"Don't worry," smiled Alicia. "With the best archer on our team, that dragon shouldn't be able to stay up for long."

Silica looked hopefully at Sinon.

"…Leave it to me," nodded Sinon confidently.

Alicia had generously provided her with many different arrows with various effects and uses. It was more than enough to take down two actually. Not that Sinon minded. Though, it's not like Alicia minded so much either. She wasn't the one who was footing the bill anyway. She'd happily charged it to Sakuya as part of their trip expense.

Emerging from the forest, they finally arrived to the view of the open night sky above them. In front of them, was a crystalline pure water that shone like a mirror. It was large enough to be called a lake. The great pool seemed to brighten the stars captured in its reflection, making it glow in an ethereal light. It's appearance made those stuck in between seem like they are lost in the infinite space far from earth.

"This is… really out of this world…" whispered Liz as everyone watched in awe.

"It does look a lot better in person, after all." Argo walked up scanned the area. "Hmm… I don't see any signs of monsters. That's good. The screenshots of this place had a good amount of big boss monsters blocking the scenery."

"Y-Yeah… good thing," mumbled Silica nervously as she started looking everywhere more closely than before.

"Alicia-dono," called Kenshin. "Is the dragon not supposed to be here?"

"Well, he's supposedly made a nest here," answered Alicia. "So it should be somewhere close by. Sinon, can you get a bead on where it might be?"

The Cait Sith archer nodded and proceeded to nimbly jump up a tree beside them. She stopped at the very top branch and scanned the area.

"…I see the mouth of a cave connected to the pool on the far end. It looks like it's big enough for a dragon to fit through it."

"That's where we're going then," Alicia said cheerfully. "We might have good luck. If it's still in the cave then it won't be able to fly over us. We should head over there immediately before it notices us."

"I'm sorry but… isn't being in an enclosed place with a big monster a bad thing?" Kenshin did not think they were lucky at all. He didn't think normal people would think the same as well.

"It's actually a good advantage against large monsters like dragons," explained Argo, giving him a patient smile. "Large monsters have a harder time moving in tight areas like that, while we players have more obstacles to use as a shield. It's a common tactic in raid quests to fish the monsters out into areas like that. Although there are some large monsters that are exceptions. Mostly certain monsters with annoying abilities."

"Not dragons, though," said Alicia. "Even if it's a Grand Dragon, it has more or less the same abilities and attack pattern as any other dragon type monster."

"Is that so?" Kenshin seemed to understand. "Then what makes a Grand Dragon harder than the regular ones?"

"Well, they're just better at everything, I suppose." Alicia crossed her arms and tilter her head as she thought of how best to explain it. "A Grand Dragon has exceptional speed, attack power, and durability. The biggest difference, though, would be the type of breath attack they use and the AI controlling them."

"AI?"

"Yup," nodded Alicia. "Special boss class monsters are usually controlled by a separate AI independent of the world system in ALO. Grand Dragons are one of those special bosses. You can think of them as smarter enemies."

"Oh? Like Yui-chan?" said Kenshin.

"Uhh… Yui-chan is a bit more special," said Lyfa. "These are more like AI designed with pre-programs to learn from previous battles. They were made so that they would be able to adapt to continuous raid battles."

"Huh? I didn't know that," said Liz. She seemed quite impressed.

"Yeah," nodded Lyfa. "Yui-chan told me about it before. It's probably the reason why it took multiple times for the best raid groups to finish one off. They weren't able to use the same strategies that worked before against it. Yui-chan said that the more fights they win, the smarter they get."

The mouth of the cave they saw was much smaller than everyone had thought it would be. Though it was large enough for a dragon to fit through, it was really only barely that. The Crystal Moon Pool seemed to extend all the way into the cave.

"Is this really the nest?" questioned Liz. "Seems like it's kinda small for a dragon nest."

There weren't really any other noticeable places where the nest could be besides it. Dragons don't build nests out in the open. Their nests are always in high and hard to reach areas, or well-protected, enclosed spaces.

There was only a small dry trail on the side of the cave for them to walk on. They followed it inside after casting a few illumination spells to light their path. It was a little slippery though.

"Kyaa!" Lyfa had almost fallen into the pool.

"Are you okay, Lyfa-san?" Kenshin was fast enough to grab hold onto her. "We should mind our footing inside here."

"Y-Yeah," nodded Lyfa. "Thanks. I almost—!"

Lyfa turned red as she just now noticed that Kenshin's arms were wrapped around her torso.

"Where do you think you're touching?!" She slapped him hard on his cheeks.

"Quite, you two!" chided Alicia. "In case you forgot, we're in a dragon's lair, you know?"

Lyfa's face was red with embarrassment. Though, she couldn't help it, she knew she was at fault since it was only an accident. It would be bad if the quest ended due to her mistake.

"Hey…" Argo whispered to the group. "I can see a light up ahead. Isn't that kind of strange?"

True enough, everyone else seemed to notice the slight glow. A dragon had no need for light. Like most beasts, dragons had night vision as a racial trait.

Once their party arrived at the light source, they were in for another breathtaking sight. Their path through the cave had led them deep underground to an enormous cavern. The body of water outside had ended into creating another pool that covered at the center of this place. It even reflected an entire night sky from their view. The shining stars was what caused the light they saw coming from here.

"Huh?" Argo looked closer at the pool then at the ceiling. "I see… Those are glittering moss hanging above the ceilings. They look exactly like stars hanging in the sky. The developers really made a good setting for this place."

As everyone else was awed by this wonder, only Sinon looked to be uneasy.

"This might be bad…" she said. "We just lost our advantage."

Alicia was quick to understand her meaning. This place was large. Too large. It had enough room for a dragon to fly around in. This meant that they were back to their original plan on trying to ground it.

"Is the dragon here?" quickly asked Alicia. After scanning for few moments around the area, Sinon answered with a shake of her head. "Good. Everyone, we should retreat for now. This place isn't a good spot for us to fight it. Let's hurry and—"

An ear-splitting roar reverberated from the direction where they came from. It looked like the dragon had arrived from wherever it came from and found out that his home had some unwelcome guests. They could feel and hear its thunderous steps heading their way.

"M-My body…!" Silica tried to move but was unable to do so. Even Pia had fallen to the ground and was much the same.

"Fear paralysis!" said Argo. "Dragon's roar! That… shouldn't be possible. The juveniles aren't supposed to have it!"

The fear status effect had gripped the entire party. They were unable to move from their current position. Depending on the strength, it could freeze a player in place for more than a minute.

"This is bad!" said Liz with gritted teeth as she tried to break free from the effect. They could already hear the dragon close by and they were still frozen in place.

Another deafening roar, much louder than the first, burst forth as the dragon finally shot out from the entrance they came from. The majestic white dragon spread its wings wide in stretch after going through the tight tunnel. Though it really was smaller than a juvenile Grand Dragon, that didn't really mean much considering Grand Dragons were the largest dragons currently in ALO. The juvenile was about the same size as a regular dragon.

"I still can't move!" Lyfa could only barely manage to shake her body at the strength of the paralysis.

The dragon leveled its head as it scanned its nest for the intruders. Its eyes stopped at the frozen figures of their party. It gave another roar before charging on its four limbs at them. There was no way they could dodge that lumbering beast in the state they were in.

When it was halfway towards them, a shout came from their midst. Kenshin ran up to meet with the dragon. Somehow, he was able to break free from the paralysis effect. The dragon stopped and reeled its head as Kenshin's blade had caught it by surprise. It wasn't expecting at all for someone to meet it's charge.

"Kenshin?!" Lyfa blinked blankly as she saw the samurai take a stance on the ground against the dragon. The status ailment seemed to have lifted, because she could now move her body.

"Prepare for battle!" shouted Alicia as she was the first one to run up beside the samurai, closely followed by Argo. "Hurry up! While it's still on the ground!"

Their party was quick to follow orders after finally breaking free from the paralysis. They weren't going to waste this chance. They threw their attacks at the dragon. Liz, Alicia, Kenshin, and Argo were in the vanguard while Silica, Lyfa, and Sinon were in the rear.

The dragon swiped its long tail at them.

"Woah!" Argo ducked while Kenshin and Alicia nimbly jumped over it. "It's… a lot faster than I thought it would be."

"Didn't you tell me that juveniles aren't able to use a dragon roar?!" angrily shouted Alicia. "We almost died because of that!"

"It shouldn't have it at all!" answered Argo. "This info came straight from one of the developers. I'm not sure why, but I think something might be wrong here."

The dragon tried to claw them, but Liz managed to block it. The damage though had caused her health to drop down into the red zone.

"Geh!" Liz was dumbstruck. "I blocked it, but what the hell is with this damage?!" Fortunately, Silica ordered Pia to breathe her health back. "It even took a third of my shield's durability!"

The dragon spread its wings wide and jumped into flight. The cavern was wide enough for it to fly circles over them as it glared at them from above. It pulled back its head, as if sucking in air, and blew a white hot cloud of flame pouring down its mouth.

"Scatter!" commanded Alicia.

The dragon's fiery breath cut through in a line across the middle of their party. Even though they weren't hit directly, the heat seemed hot enough to damage them indirectly.

Lyfa chanted an all heal spell to quickly recover their health. It was enough to put them at full health again, however, it took a good chunk of mana to perform. She'd only be able to cast it once at most if she were to continue with other support spells.

"Argo! This isn't that much weaker than a raid boss!" Alicia picked herself back up on her feet. The difficulty of this quest was much greater than she was expecting it to be.

Argo was silent as she too didn't seem to understand how her information could be so wrong. Even if she was misinformed about the monster completely, it still didn't explain why the listed difficulty for it did not match what they were going through right now.

"It's coming back for another pass!" shouted Lyfa.

Since they more or less expected it, they came out of the attack only slightly singed than before. Though they still couldn't do anything about the dragon flying in the air.

They could fly and try to attack it, but with their number, it would be suicide to do so. A dragon, after all, wasn't called the lord of the skies for nothing. It would swat down quickly any that would even dare do so.

"Sinon!" shouted Alicia.

The archer nodded as she knocked one of the special arrows prepared just for this situation. She drew her breath and aimed at the dragon. As it was about to go for another pass at them, she let loose the arrow. It sailed through the air and looked to hit the dragon right in the forehead when it suddenly detonated. A purple powdered smoke spread out in front of the dragon.

"Perfect hit!" said Silica.

The dragon's eyes were closed as the powder got into its eyes. It hit the wall of the cavern before falling roughly to the ground.

"Now!" commanded Alicia. "We attack it with everything we got!"

Their party ran towards the dragon. Once they began attacking it, it started to thrash its head and tail wildly around itself. It still couldn't see them, but that didn't stop it from trying.

The entire party used their strongest skills to hit the dragon with everything they got. Their weapons shined in different colors as their attacks started. Swift combos and elemental effects hit the dragon in every part of its body.

The dragon roared wildly.

"Huh?!" Lizbeth gaped at the damage they dealt to it. "His HP dropped only that much from our attack?!"

Everyone could see that there was barely a drop to its health, signified by the green health bar next to its status. There was barely a tenth of it gone.

The effect of the powder on it seemed to have worn off. The dragon shook its head. It's eyes stopped directly at the one responsible for his grounding. It reared its head.

"Sinon, watch out!" screamed Silica.

The white hot breath of fire came crashing down towards her. The small pools of water where she stood evaporated instantly while the rocks on the ground melted from the heat. If someone hadn't taken her out of the way from there, she would have died.

"Ugh…"

Sinon laid on the ground. She sat back up to find Kenshin face first in the dirt beside her.

"Are you… okay?" she asked him.

Kenshin got his face off the ground and gave her a smile and a thumbs up. It wasn't all that convincing since his eyes looked like they were still spiraling, some small pieces of rock was stuck to his face, and part of his hair looked burnt.

"This is… really quite the experience," he laughed. "I never thought I would fight a dragon before."

"Y-Yeah…" said Sinon. "But I don't think we'll be able to win this one," she sighed.

Back over in the fight, the rest of their party had their hands full with fighting the dragon. Though they continued to attack it, the damage they were doing was completely negligible. The dragon even had regenerative capabilities, so if they even let out a bit on their assault, it would regain its health completely. They didn't bring nearly enough recovery items for a prolonged battle such as this. It was already on the level of a raid boss. They would lose soon at the rate things were going.

"Sinon-san," said Kenshin, "Do you think you can do me a favor?"

Sinon was greatly surprised by what he wanted her to do.

"It's not that hard, but what are you—?"

"I'll be counting on your skills, Sinon-san!" Kenshin rushed back towards the battle.

The Cait Sith samurai passed Alicia, Liz, and Argo, going straight towards the dragon in a charge. The rest of the party shouted at him that it was suicidal.

It most certainly was.

As the dragon snapped its jaws at him, he deftly avoided it by jumping up. He impaled his sword directly on the dragon's forehead. It didn't really do much damage to it, and only caused the dragon to roar furiously as it flailed its head around trying to get him off.

"Everyone!" Sinon shouted at the party. She had another special arrow knocked in her bow. "Hit it with everything you've got!"

"Grrr… what's that idiot doing?!" Alicia thought it wouldn't make much of a difference, but still readied one of her strongest dark spells.

The dragon was too distracted to defend against their attacks, but it still only served to knock its HP down to around 75%. It stopped moving for a brief moment as it glared angrily at the pitiful man on his forehead.

"A-Ahahaha…" Kenshin chuckled nervously. "P-Please take it easy on me, dragon-dono…"

It opened up its mouth and roared loudly, deafening his ears. Kenshin saw as it glanced at the cave walls next to them. He could swear it smiled at him as he understood what it was about to do.

The dragon charged at the wall on all limbs head first. It slammed his head with a loud bang against the cave wall. Parts of it crumbled to pieces at the strength of the impact.

It shook its head afterwards. It quickly tried to find the man that greatly offended its proud forehead. Some small rocks tumbled down in its view. Above him, he could see the samurai running up the walls. He sucked in his breath as he prepared to unleash his fiery fury at him.

"Now!" shouted Kenshin.

Just as the dragon was about to release its breath, an arrow appeared in its sight. It exploded into a blinding light, causing the dragon to turn its head away.

 **"** **Ryūtsuisen!"**

As the light from the flash arrow finally died out, everyone looked to see what had happened. They were ready to charge in and continue their attack, however…

The dragon was frozen in place whilst Kenshin knelt on the ground with his blade out. Everyone could see the dragon's HP bar drain down from green to orange to red until it was all gone. The red hit mark of a cut had shown on its head. It's body fell hard to the ground and slowly burned up until there was nothing left of it but some of the loot it dropped.

Kenshin got back up on his feet. The sword in his hand disintegrated as its durability was spent in its entirety.

"Phew," he sighed in relief. "I wasn't sure if it was strong enough to kill a dragon, but thankfully its namesake wasn't just for show."

If it wasn't for pushing himself down the ceiling to increase his speed and the flash giving him an opening, he was doubtful that the dragon would have been killed. He wondered if his master would be pleased to know that the style of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū is able to slay an actual dragon. His master would definitely drink to that. Though his master would drink to just about anything anyway.

Everyone else just stared dumbly as they saw Kenshin gave them a refreshed smile. They didn't see really see what had happened, but they still understood that he had done something to kill the dragon.

"We… won?" murmured Silica. "We won!"

"For real?" added Lyfa.

"A-Ahahahaha!" Alicia laughed loudly as she jumped with joy. "We won! We won! I told you guys we would win!"

The girls ran towards Kenshin. They talked rapidly as they peppered him with questions on what exactly he had done. They didn't really give him a chance to answer as they were far too overjoyed with excitement at defeating a dragon.

Liz collapsed on her butt as the tension left her body. "I can't believe we really killed that thing."

Somebody else seemed to agree with her.

While everyone else was celebrating their victory, Argo watched Kenshin with serious look. It appeared there was something more to him than she had initially thought. Though, she would need to investigate more on what exactly went wrong with this quest before anything else.

"An interesting boy indeed…"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **So it has been a while. I got sick for a whole month so I couldn't really work on any of my stories since then. Also, I was supposed to have been working on another story, but the muse wouldn't come to me for it. It was, however, okay with me doing this story. I really wish I could work on what I wanted sometimes.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please read and review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own neither Sword Art Online or Rurouni Kenshin. This work is merely fanfiction, and as such, earns me no income whatsoever. Please don't sue me, I'm really poor.**

 **Well it's been a while. I just recently moved to a new house, so it's been pretty hectic for me lately. It's also been sometime so I'm not sure if I still have everything in the story correct and if the characterizations are still on the spot. Anyway, here's an update and hope you guys enjoy.**

* * *

"Sorry I'm late."

A lanky male, orange-furred Cait Sith took a seat at the table. The simulated weather was nice and warm enough most of the time at the capital of the cat-eared race that most cafés have most of their seating outside. Apparently, the reason for such great weather was that the original makers of Alfheim had thought of the perfect weather felines would prefer.

"Trouble at work?"

"Ugh. Pretty much."

He signaled the waiter and gave a short order of tea and some biscuits. Opposite him sat Argo the Rat. She had apparently already eaten her fill and was content on slowly consuming her dessert of strawberry parfait. She had been waiting for close to half an hour for the man, who was her informant in regards to the direction and changes happening for Alfheim Online.

Due to Argo's vast experience as an information broker and SAO survivor status, she was a great help in providing the new developers on making changes to the game. Her input was indispensable in keeping Alfheim Online the most popular VRMMO because she knew well how players would react to future plans and changes to the game. It was also the reason how she knew about the information about the juvenile Grand Dragon quest in the first place.

"Have anything to do with happen with the new content and juveniles monster system, I suppose?" she asked.

The man gave a tired sigh.

He was one of the many programmers of the new developer that had taken over Alfheim Online after the whole debacle with the original developers, RECT Progress Inc. Few thought the game would ever become popular again after that incident, however, the popularity of Alfheim Online amongst players did not diminish as much as predicted. With the blessings and encouragement of those who had been affected, support from even some of those trapped in the SAO incident, they were able to make the game even more popular than ever before, sitting at the top of the rankings of currently available VRMMO games.

"We hadn't noticed such a serious bug in the quest before we released it," he answered. "All of us had to crunch to be able to get out a patch to fix the problems as soon as possible. We really should have tested it more considering how big the new content was with the added new monster system on top of that. It caused a small panic when we started receiving messages from players that the difficulty level of the juveniles didn't match up with the specified information we'd given."

"So the monsters were bugged after all?"

"Yeah," nodded the programmer. His order came and he thanked the waiter before taking a small sip of his warm tea. "There was a problem with the algorithm used not balancing the strength of the monsters to reflect their juvenile status, resulting in them being completely unbalanced in regards to some of their difficulty. It was a total mess when we'd found out."

"I thought as much," sighed Argo. "That dragon wasn't that much weaker than some of the current raid bosses."

"Dragon?" the tired programmer, who had been quietly enjoying the aroma of his tea, perked up a bit and looked at her curiously. "Did you… fight with a juvenile dragon?"

"Yeah. It was a Grand Dragon, to boot. I thought for sure we were going get wiped after it came out and used that paralyzing roar at us. It shouldn't have had the ability to do that. If I hadn't had such good party members at the time, I'm sure that's what would have happened."

"That shouldn't be possible…" the lanky man seemed to be thinking hard as Argo wondered what had him so disturbed. "A juvenile Grand Dragon? From that quest? But that one was…" he continued to mutter to himself.

"Hey!" Argo snapped her fingers in front of him that broke the man's intense thoughts to himself. "What do you mean by that?"

The man blinked a few times, then stayed quiet for a few moments before saying, "Because a dragon would be too strong."

Argo didn't understand. Obviously dragons were strong. Most fantasy stories paint the dragons as the greatest beings that could be faced by adventurers. Alfheim Online was not much different, having only a few minor dragon subspecies and the like being a some levels lower and weaker than most other types of monsters.

"The algorithm error made it worse for stronger monsters," he continued. "The juveniles versions of weaker monsters had little to no difference in the original specs we had planned for the system. It was the reason why the error had been missed in the first place. Unfortunately, as the monsters the juvenile system copied got stronger, the error grew much more pronounced."

"…What?"

The programmer scratched his head as he seemed to think about it more.

"The stronger the adult version of the monster is, the farther the juvenile monster would be from the original weakened version we designed it to be. Based on the error of the algorithm, rather than a juvenile that was supposed to be at most 10% the strength of the original, it would have been closer to double that. Maybe even going as far as being only a third of a Grand Dragon's original strength."

Argo was undoubtedly confused by this. If what he was saying was true, based on the original health and strength of the original adult version, it was incredibly unlikely for them to have managed to defeat it. She doubted they could have even gotten close to taking it down to a quarter of its health. Raid bosses had massive health pools that allowed them to endure the combined and coordinated assault of a guild. She would know just how much that is especially since she was the one who sold that information to the guild that had managed to defeat a Grand Dragon in the first place.

"No way…"

Argo knotted her eyebrows as she thought back to the battle from before. If what was said was true, then even though the dragon had been softened up by their party, a single attack shouldn't have been able to kill it instantly when it still had its health above 50%. No player should have been able to do that.

"That boy … Just who in the world is he?"

* * *

"So, what have you found?"

In the Lord of the Salamander's office, Mortimer sat behind his large, ornate wooden desk, his chin resting on the back of his hands as he glared at the man in front of him.

"He's hard to track." The man was short. Only a little bit taller than Alicia. Dressed in dark leathers, it was obvious that he was no Salamander. He was a Spriggan mercenary. "They're probably using the protections on the quest system to hide their movements. Not a bad idea if you wanted to play the game without disturbance."

"But you did find him?" asked Mortimer, his patience wearing thin. "I paid you and your men a lot for this job because they said you were the best tracker in the game. Don't tell me…"

The short Spriggan mercenary held his hand up. "We did. No need to get angry. It took a while but we were able to get a general read on their movements now. The Gerwall Mercenary Company pride ourselves in our reputation, you know?"

"Begin gathering intel on their party then," commanded Mortimer. "I want to know everything about that pipsqueak, so that I can make him regret ever crossing with me. That smug face of his when he took her lips… I'll burn them off completely!"

"Uh…" The Spriggan looked mildly disturbed by Mortimer's not so hush brooding. "I should probably go. They'll probably be logging in soon."

Once the doors to his office closed, Mortimer finally smiled. He was finally close to achieving his goal.

He had wanted to use his own men for the job, however, players who chose to play as a Salamander aren't known for being subtle. The majority of them were, like the background of the race, hot-blooded and loud. They were all very similar to his battle-maniac little brother. Sometimes he wondered why he ever bothered being Lord in the first place. His real life job was already tedious enough.

Mortimer didn't become the Lord of the Salamanders simply because of his intelligence. The truth was that no one really wanted to take the job. Everyone was too gung-ho with fighting and no one wanted to get stuck with managing an entire race. As soon as his brother had even mentioned that Mortimer was good with paperwork, everyone practically pushed the job to him.

He had always wondered what would have happened if he hadn't simply followed along with brother and actually chose a race more suited to him. His thoughts always wondered that maybe he could have met his love sooner if he'd chosen to play as a Slyph instead.

Still, he supposed it was thanks to being a Lord that he did meet the love of his life.

Fiddling with his menu, a screencap came into Mortimer's view.

"Sakuya…" Tears crept up the devious Lord's eyes as he caressed the cheeks of the woman on his screen. Her face was stern in the picture, as it was during the first meeting of the Lords of the races. After her magnificent speech about their responsibilities in making sure that players of ALO getting along and having fun, he'd taken the picture in secret, his love for her having started then.

With a wave of his hand the picture vanished.

He couldn't break down right now. If he wanted to take her back, he needed to be strong. He needed to focus on the current task. He needed to make and consider his plans. He needed to make preparations.

He needed to destroy the man that had taken her from him.

"Battōsai… I'll incinerate you until there is nothing but embers left!" Fiery flames of bright red rose from his hands as he declared so.

* * *

Kenshin had a bad feeling.

There was something ominous that hung in the air. It was something that was all too familiar to him. His senses had never betrayed him about it before, so he just had to prepare for the worst.

"Keeeenshiiin!"

Boom. He was hit with great force, forcing his head to the ground just as he'd entered the tavern. A small but fierce looking cat-woman glared down at him, cracking her knuckles.

"Didn't I tell you to be early?!" she said in an expression of disdain. "You know it's not appealing of a man to be tardy, right? I can't believe you would leave lovely ladies like us waiting so long."

"Uhm… Alicia-san?" The meek Silica intervened. "We've only waited about 5 minutes. It really hasn't been that long."

"Oh, really?" said the Cait Sith Lord. "Mhmm… I thought it was longer than that. Well, anyway it's still his fault for being late."

Kenshin could only protest in silence as he thought of all the other times she'd been the one who was late to their meetings. As a once-married man in his past life, he understood the value in not voicing the double-standards that women usually used against men. Even though it was unfair. Even though he wasn't the only one who was late.

"Sorry I'm late." Lyfa entered just as Silica helped Kenshin up to his feet. "Dinner took a while to prepare since my parents came a little early today."

"Don't worry about it," waived off Alicia nonchalantly. "It's only been a few minutes anyway."

Kenshin cried quietly in his heart.

"So where are we off to today?" asked Lyfa. "How about we try the Gale Shrieks quest? I heard their dropped feathers are in demand right now."

"I don't really mind, but this guy doesn't know how to fly yet, right?" Alicia pointed to Kenshin. "It's not a quest you'd expect someone who hasn't flown yet to be able to complete. Really, shouldn't you start practicing now? It's not like you're afraid of heights?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to do that," Kenshin weakly laughed. Whilst his skills had more than a few that involved aerial maneuvers, having to actually fly up in the air using wings sprouting off one's back would take some getting used to. Even now, he was still trying to acclimate himself to having a tail.

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat," teased Alicia. Her wings came out of her back and she hovered up to his eye level, smirking. "It might not be that useful when it comes to beating the floors in New Aincrad, but flying is a big part of Alfheim, nyaknow? You're gonna have to learn it someday if you want to be able to fully enjoy this world."

Alicia spun around, causing Kenshin to sneeze as her tail had tickled his nose.

"Anyway, it's only us four today, since everyone else has their own things to do right now," she said as she floated down back next to Silica. "We probably shouldn't do anything too big."

Kenshin felt relieved at that.

Though they hadn't encountered anything as hard as the dragon quest from before, Alicia had felt that their bar had been raised, so she had chosen mostly difficult quests that were—while very exciting—not as relaxing as Kenshin thought playing a video game should be. He would really have preferred to have done so more casual and relaxing quests such as fishing or something. He hoped that the next one would be simple enough.

"I've picked out a simple fetch request. It's not even that far from here, so we should be able to start on it right away."

He felt elated at that.

"Oh, where is it?" asked Silica.

"It's at the Fallen Ruins of the Ancients."

"That's good," sighed Silica. "There aren't many strong monsters there and it's actually quite nice." She too hadn't been a big fan of all the dangerous quests they've been doing.

"A quest at that place…?" Lyfa seemed to be in thought. "Could it be… Is it _that_ quest?"

Alicia beamed at her. "Yup! It's that one!"

"Hoh?"

Kenshin didn't like the way the two of them sharing a glance at him, wicked intent in their eyes. He could practically see the conniving animals behind the two.

Somehow he felt this quest was going to be something more than simple.

"Wait, but isn't that quest part of the general ones?" Lyfa suddenly looked a little worried. "Other players would be able to interfere. What if the Salamanders try and do something?"

"This is Cait Sith territory," said Alicia. "This town is more remote than the others so there aren't as many players here. There aren't any Salamanders nearby in this area, and if they were to teleport here, my guildmates would warn us and we'd have enough time to get away before they become a problem. The quest isn't even that long, so we should be fine."

"I guess it should be fine," nodded Lyfa.

While their destination wasn't too far away, because Kenshin wasn't really able to use his wings yet, they had to walk. It wouldn't take too long, but it still took about three times longer than flying there. Mostly because the area in between was an uneven path that was littered with rocks and boulders. It was an area with beginner type goat monsters, so it wasn't too much of a problem for them.

"Hmm… This is quite good." Alicia chewed happily on her sandwich while they took a break on a large, flat boulder. "Where did you guys buy this?"

"Oh, I made it."

"Hah?" Alicia stared at him in disbelief. "When did you start cooking in the game? I mean, it's not as hard to cook here as it is in real life, but it still takes some time to learn how to do it."

"Well, I've known how to cook since I was very young." Kenshin can't exactly tell them that he was the designated cook for a long time in his old life. "It wasn't too hard to learn how to do it here in game."

"Wow," said Silica, she had just finished eating hers. "If it's this good in the game, you must probably make great meals in real life. I really want to try that."

Lyfa looked unsatisfied at the sandwich she was eating. "How come I can't get it to taste this good when I did it? I also cook at home and I'm not amateur at it."

"You'll make a good wife someday," Alicia said to Kenshin.

"So I've been told." Kenshin could only scratch at the familiar remark. A lot of people have told him that before, even his own parents.

"In fact…" Alicia skidded over to his side, her hand touching his chest as she pressed her small, soft body against him. She leaned in close and whispered, "Why don't I make you mine?"

"That—!" Kenshin turned red as a lobster. "I-I am not—!"

"Nyahahahha!" Alicia fell over laughing at his expression. "You're really so fun to tease, nyaknow?"

Kenshin sighed tiredly. Hanging out with Alicia always left him mentally exhausted at the end of the day. She wasn't shy about teasing about things like that, making use of her body to get a reaction out of him.

"We should get going." Lyfa was already on her feet and leaving. Kenshin wondered if the sandwich wasn't to her liking. He considered that maybe he should have thought to make a more diverse meal, so that everyone would be able to enjoy it.

"Lyfa-chan, wait!" Silica ran up trying to catch up.

"She's too serious about this," Alicia said as she shook her head. "Well, we better get a move on."

"Please go on ahead," Kenshin smiled at her. "I need to organize my items a little. I left it a bit out of order when I had made the sandwiches. I'll catch up. It won't take me that long."

Alicia shrugged and went ahead just as he said.

Being left alone now, Kenshin would finally be able to handle the matter that he'd been putting off since stopping at their location for a break. He stood up and stretched his arms before walking a few steps towards the middle of a circle of rocks of different sizes.

"So you can use magic like this in this game too?" he said out loud. "It's very interesting indeed."

It appeared like he was talking to himself or maybe just the rocks around him, but Kenshin knew that every word he said was heard.

He leaned forward slightly, balancing his feet so that his weight was centered as his hands went into the familiar position of drawing his blade.

"I'd like to know what you're intentions are for spying on us here," he said. The air seemed to still and a deep silence engulfed his surroundings.

 ** _"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū:_** ** _Doryūsen"_**

In a flash, Kenshin's sword was out of sheathe, slicing the ground in front of him and sending a shockwave that burst through sending dirt and debris forward as it smashed a boulder fifteen feet away from him.

As the air slowly cleared, he said, "I won't warn you a second time."

Several of the surrounding rocks went into a haze, the illusion dispelled and those hidden by it coming into view. They wore dark leather outfits and black mask that covered the lower part of their faces. They looked like brigands more than ninjas.

"How'd you know we were here?"

Instead of answering, one of the four stepped forward, standing with his arms crossed. Kenshin had already known when they first showed that he was the leader of the group. Even if they wore matching outfits he would easily spot people like him. His targets were usually capable leaders, so it had been his job to know how to find them in a group.

"Though you use magic, you can't hide your presence that well." Kenshin had met people before that were nothing but shadows. Men and women alike whose sole life was dedicated to the art of stealth, just as his own had been to the sword. The faces of the Oniwabanshū came into mind.

"You're a lot more interesting than I first thought," frowned the leader. His hand to the short sword by his side. "I'd like to see firsthand what you can do."

"I won't chase you if you flee," said Kenshin, "But if you insist on doing this, I shall answer you with my blade."

A shiver ran down the spine of not only the leader, but also the rest of the mercenary group. They could all feel that what he said was no lie nor bravado. Even though he was the one who was outnumbered, they knew he was serious.

"…It wasn't part of the agreement, but I'll make an exception in this case." The leader of the group slowly withdrew his short sword. "My name is Bergen. I lead the Spriggan mercenary guild Gerwall. And I can't just let it get out that we were found out on a job and ran with our tails behind our legs."

"Then you leave me with no other choice."

It didn't take Kenshin long before he wiped the mercenaries out. Unlike the warlike Salamanders, the Spriggans were not as experienced with direct combat. Having positioned himself right in the middle of their group, he had already gauged the distance between them.

It was all over in a flash.

"I'd advise you to leave us be," he said to the leftover remain lights of his opponents as he sheathed his sword. "I won't be as kind as to give you a warning if next we meet."

"Hey! Kenshin! Are you coming or not?" Lyfa appeared up the path shouting at him. "

"I just finished, Lyfa-san!" he answered back. "I just tripped over some misplaced rocks."

Though he left them a warning, he doubted they would heed it.

* * *

At the Fallen Ruins of the Ancients Kenshin hadn't realized that to enter the ruins that had been surrounded by overgrowth, they needed to go through the entrance, which was a wide, crumbling stone stairs that was so steep it was as if they were climbing up a mountain in the middle of a jungle. After they'd finally reached the top, he realized why Alicia and Lyfa were so enthusiastic about a simple quest.

"…Oro?"

Kenshin stood at the very end of the stairs, his mouth slightly agape as he stared blankly at the expansive view in front of him. As the name of the place suggested, there were ruins scattered all them in a wide area. Stone pillars, fallen bridges, and collapsed buildings littered their surroundings, with the only solid structure intact a ziggurat that was at the far end that they were facing—All of these were built so high that they poked out of the immense jungle as if trying to reach the sky. It was no doubt to him that their goal was at that place. They only needed to reach it.

The problem was the fact that there was virtually no way of reaching that place on foot, seeing as the stairs they took had taken them high up above the trees.

"Uhm… Alicia-dono?" he asked uncertainly.

"What's up?" The Cait Sith lord had a wicked smirk as she floated just off the edge of the stairs, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "It's definitely not you, because you'll need to be if you want to cross over to the goal and complete this quest."

"Perhaps we should just go on a monster hunt?" he suggested quickly, backing away from the edge, only to bump into someone from behind. "Eh? Lyfa-san?"

Arms crossed, the Slyph girl glared at him. "You've been putting off flying for too long already."

She slowly pushed him back, until he was at the edge, his eyes nervously peeking over and unable to see the bottom that was covered entirely in the sea of green vines and trees. He had no doubt he would die from such a fall.

"But I don't really need to fly?!" he begged. "It's not as if it's that big of a deal, right? Human beings weren't meant to fly in the sky anyway."

"What's with that archaic way of thinking?" glowered Alicia. "Aren't you the one jumping really high with those fancy skills of yours? Now you're talking as if your feet never left the ground before!"

Kenshin turned to the only other person able to save him. "Silica-san! Please stop them!"

He knew that if there was anyone in this group that could sympathize with him it would be Silica.

"Sorry, Kenshin," the little girl apologized, her familiar nuzzling its cute head at her neck. Her eyes seemed a little dead. "Everyone has to learn someday. Everyone does…"

"See?" said Lyfa. "This is the exact same place I taught Silica how to fly too."

Seeing Silica's blank face, Kenshin could surmise that it hadn't been a pleasant experience for her either.

"Okay, okay." Lyfa clapped her hands and started to shove him forward. "Enough stalling. This is an easy enough quest that it's pretty much a walk in the park for all players. We just need to reach the ziggurat and fetch the item requested for us to complete it. Just remember the controls that I taught you and you should be fine."

"Waa!" Before he could be pushed over, Kenshin grabbed on for dear life.

"Oi…" Lyfa's voice was stony. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Oro?" Kenshin had reflexively hugged Lyfa, his head just underneath her impressive bust. "Ah… eh?"

"Go and fall already!" Lyfa kicked him out into the open air.

Kenshin did not fall, nor did he fly.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be on that!" Alicia complained.

Kenshin had miraculously stepped onto one of the stone pillars that were jutting out of the jungle. He breathed out a relieved sigh. Unfortunately, he was unable to stay there for long as a ball of yellow energy blasted it.

"That's cheating!"

He was able to jump off to another tall stone pillar, almost losing his balance.

"I don't think you can say that to me, Alicia-dono," he answered. After finding his center of gravity, Kenshin stared at the path from where he was at to the ziggurat. "We only need to be able to finish this quest, right? Then I will be going on ahead!"

"Ah!" Alicia seemed to have realized his plan. "Don't let him get away!"

Kenshin was already off, jumping from one ruin to another towards the goal. He was using whatever structure there was left in the area as a stepping stone, without a break in his pace.

He had almost fallen again when the next column was cut by a wind spell. It was already falling down when his foot came into contact with it and he was still able to push himself off to the next one. Looking back, he saw Lyfa chanting another spell, with Alicia and Silica doing the same.

He wondered if they really wanted to teach him or if they just wanted to see him die once.

As he jumped high onto part of a sky bridge, he spun in the air and placed his hand on his sword. In one smooth motion, he cut apart three spells that were aiming for his landing spot. The girls were momentarily frozen in the air from the display.

"Wow," said Silica in awe. "He's really good."

"I'd be more impressed if wasn't using it to avoid having to learn how to fly," grumbled Lyfa.

"You're making this harder than it has to be!" Alicia shouted, flying faster to catch up. "Just give up and learn already!"

After a series of close calls, he was still going strong. The gaps between his stepping stones were getting bigger, however, as he drew close to the end, causing him to slow his pace down a little bit. He didn't think it mattered that much since the girls seemed to have stopped attacking him.

"What?!" Kenshin stopped.

Facing him were his three companions, Alicia with a triumphant look on her face. They hovered between him and the ziggurat.

"What are you going to do now, then?" she asked smugly.

He noticed that there was nothing for him to jump from. Looking down from his perch, he could see the smoldering pieces of what were most likely that structures that had been there before. Instead of just following him, the girls had flown ahead and destroyed anything that he could use to jump the gap to the ziggurat.

"Ahaha…" Kenshin chuckled nervously as Alicia gave him a vicious grin, her hand in front of her glowing green with magic. "Mercy?"

"Sink or swim," Alicia said with bright tone, the green magic illuminating her wide smile. "In this case, it's fly or fall."

The green bolt smashed the structure he was on, crumbling and joining the rest of the ruins down at the bottom.

Kenshin, however, once again did not fall.

"Eh?!" Alicia was wide-eyed with surprise as she saw the Cait Sith samurai had leapt towards her. "What the—?!"

Kenshin had landed lightly on her and jumped from her back, using her as his stepping stone to reach Lyfa as the next one.

"Hey!"

Then followed by Silica.

"Eek!"

Until he finally landed safely at the front entrance of the ziggurat.

"I did it!" he cheered, jumping and raising his hands in the air, right after he fell to his knees.

It had been a tough ordeal, even for him. Though, he probably shouldn't be celebrating just yet.

"Yeah, you did."

"Kenshin, we'd like to have a word with you?"

He could feel his spine tingle at the danger he was sensing from both Lyfa and Alicia, the two girls had smiles on their faces that didn't quite reflect what their eyes were saying.

"Uhm…"

They landed between him, crossing an arm with his. He could feel their chest pressed against him.

"Good for you for reaching this far," said Alicia.

"Now how about we try this again?" said Lyfa.

"Oro…?"

The two girls lifted him up quickly into the air, carrying him back over the edge of the ziggurat, going higher and higher until the ziggurat was as small as an apple on the ground.

"Now then," said Alicia in a bright cheery tone. "Since you're so difficult to work with, we're going to do this the hard way. And we're going to keep doing this until you learn how to fly."

"You have no one to blame but yourself," huffed Lyfa. "I still can't believe you stepped on us…"

"Uwaaah!" Kenshin's heart raced at being so high in the sky. "I am very sorry for what I did! Please forgive me!"

"It's too late for that!"

Giving him a simple wave of good bye, both girls tossed him in an arc, sending him falling down towards the ground.

He screamed all the way to the bottom.

The girls wouldn't really let him die though. Silica had been on the bottom and made sure to catch him with a magic skill to prevent it. Although, he really wished that he could have just died, since the girls simply repeated this process over and over again until he actually learned how to use his wings to fly.


End file.
